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SALVATION  AND  THE 
OLD  THEOLOGY 


Works  of 

LEN  G.  BROUGHTON 

Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

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SALVATION  and  the 
OLD   THEOLOGY 


Pivot  Points  in  Romans 


yBY 
REV.  LEN  G.  BROUGHTON,  D.D 

Author  of  "Table  Talks  of  Jesus,"  "The  Soul 

Winning  Church,"  *'  The  Second  Coming 

of  Christ,"   Etc.,   Etc. 


*'/br  therein  is  the  righteousness  of  God  re- 
•vealed  from  faith  to  faith -y  as  it  is  avrittenf 
the  just  shall  li've  by  faith.  "^    Romans  1:17. 


New  York         Chicago         Toronto 

Fleming  H.   Revell   Company 

London  and  Edinburgh 


Copyright,  iqo8,  by 
Fleming  H.  Revell  Company 


SECOND  EDITION 


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London  :  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh :   100    Princes  Street 


PREFACE 

** Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology,  or  Pivot 
Points  in  Romans"  consists  of  a  series  of  Fri- 
day night  talks  given  before  the  Tabernacle  Bible 
School,  and  revised  with  much  care  for  publica- 
tion. 

When  I  went  into  this  course  with  the  class  I 
promised  that  I  would  endeavor  to  set  forth  the 
teaching  of  this  great  Epistle  without  regard  to 
any  theory  that  men  have  set  up  concerning  it, 
and  this  purpose  I  have  kept  in  mind  continually. 

At  some  points  I  have  been  forced  to  present 
a  different  view  from  many  of  our  most  popular 
expounders  of  to-day,  but  wherever  the  differ- 
ence has  arisen  I  have  found  myself  in  harmony 
with  the  most  orthodox  expositors  of  "The  days 
of  the  fathers." 

The  Epistle  to  the  Romans  is  without  doubt 
the  bed-rock  in  the  theology  of  the  wisest  and 
best  men  that  the  Church  has  ever  had.  They 
have  built  their  theology  on  its  teaching.  The 
essential  doctrines  of  God,  Christ,  sin,  atonement, 
propitiation,  redemption,  reconciliation,  and  Sal- 
vation, as  taught  in  Romans  and  held  by  the 
early  Church,  have  been  carefully  considered  in 
the  series,  and  without  trimming  or  modification. 
5 


6  Preface 

My  purpose  has  been  to  present  these  old  doc- 
trines in  the  regular  order  in  which  the  Apostle 
puts  them,  and  to  do  it  in  the  language  of  the 
people;  so  that  the  simplest  and  plainest  mind 
might  grasp  them. 

I  have  felt  a  need  in  my  own  field  for  such 
a  work.  The  average  man,  especially  the  lay- 
man, has  not  been  regarded  in  the  presentation 
of  our  system  of  theology.  This  course  there- 
fore has  been  prepared  largely  to  meet  the  need 
of  the  plain  man  who  wants  to  grasp  the  funda- 
mentals of  our  religion. 

Scholarship  is  not  claimed;  simply  an  exposi- 
tion of  the  teaching  as  set  forth  in  this  the  most 
interesting  of  all  the  Epistles. 

Len  G.  Broughton. 

Atlanta.  Ga. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

I.  A  General  Analysis 

II.  Paul's  Testimony  of  Himself 

III.  Testimony  of  Christ 

IV.  Testimony  of  the  Church 
V.  Testimony  of  the  Gospel 

VI.     God's  Attitude  to  Sin    . 

VII.    God's  Provision  for  Salvation 

VIII.     Reconciliation  and  Righteousness 

IX.     Relation  of  Salvation  to  Life 

X.     Relation  of  Salvation  to  Law 

XI.     Freedom  from  the  Law  . 

XII.    The    Character   and  Purpose   of 

Law     .... 

XIII.  The  Life  of  Victory — No.  i 

XIV.  The  Life  of  Victory — No.  2 
XV.     Israel's  Rejection 

XVI.  Israel's  Hope 

XVII.  Israel's  Restoration 

XVIII.  The  Practical  Application 

XIX.  Concluding  Words    . 


THE 


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I 

A  GENERAL  ANALYSIS 

/.  THE  PLACE  WHERE  WRITTEN 

Three  names  in  the  Epistle  indicate  that  it  was 
written  while  the  Apostles  were  in  Corinth. 
Gaius'  house  in  Corinth. 
Phoebe  lived  in  Cenchrea,  a  suburb  of  Corinth. 
Erastus,  treasurer  of  Corinth. 

//.  TIME  OF  THE  WRITING 

A.  D.  58,  March 

Five  months  before  Paul's  arrest.  Church  at 
Rome  not  organized  by  Paul  or  Peter.  Prob- 
ably organized  by  converts  from  Pentecost. 
Romans  written  because  he  could  not  pay  the 
Church  a  visit. 

///.  THE  PURPOSE 

Not  for  the  mere  correction  of  Jews  or  Pa- 
gans. Other  epistles  local.  Romans  to  set  forth 
the  basic  principles  of  the  kingdom  of  grace  as 
opposed  to  the  kingdom  of  law. 

Key. — Ch.  1:17:  "For  therein  is  revealed  a 
righteousness  of  God  from  faith  unto  faith;  as 
it  is  written,  but  the  righteous  shall  live  by  faith." 

9 


lo     Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

IV.  THE   GENERAL  PLAN  AND   SCOPE 

OF  THE  BOOK 

(i)  The  Introduction. — Ch.  1:1-17. 

(2)  The  Doctrinal.— Ch.   1:18  to  8:39. 

(3)  The  Dispensational. — Ch.  9  to  11. 

(4)  The  Practical. — Ch.  12  to  15  113. 

(5)  The  Personal. — Ch.  15:15  to  16:27. 

V.  SUBDIVISIONS   OF   GENERAL  PLAN 

1.  The  Introduction, — Ch.  i  :i-i7. 

(i)  His  testimony  of  himself. — Ch.  1:1. 

(2)  His  testimony  of  Christ. — Ch.  i  :3-7. 

(3)  His    testimony    of    the    Church. — Ch. 

I  7-15. 

(4)  His    testimony    of    the    Gospel. — Ch. 

1 :2-i6. 

2.  The  Doctrinal. — Ch.  1:18  to  8:39. 

(i)  God's    attitude   to    sin. — Ch.    1:18    to 
3:20. 

(2)  God's    provision     for    salvation. — Ch. 

3:21  to  Ch.  8:30. 

(3)  How    brought    about. — Ch.    4:25    to 

Ch.  5. 

(4)  The    place    and    purpose    of    Christ's 

death  in  bringing  it  about. — Ch.  6 
to  Ch.  7. 

(5)  The  life  of  victory.— Ch.  8. 

3.  The  Dispensational. — Ch.  9  to   11. 

(i)  The  Jew's  rejection. — Ch.  9  to  10. 
(2)  The  restoration. — Ch.  11. 


A  General  Analysis  1 1 

4.  The  Practical. — Ch.  12  to  15:13. 

(i)  Personal  attitude  to  God. — Ch.  12:1-2. 

(2)  Spiritual  gifts. — Ch.  12:3-8. 

(3)  One  to  another. — Ch.  12:9-21. 

(4)  Governments. — Ch.  13:1-14. 

(5)  Conscience. — Ch.  14. 

5.  The  Personal. — Ch.  is  to  16. 

(i)  Brotherly  preferment. — Ch.   15:1-16. 

(2)  His  own  plans  told.— Ch.  15:14-33. 

(3)  Fellow       workers       commended. — Ch. 

16:1-16. 

(4)  Admonitions  to  peace. — Ch.  16:17-20. 

(5)  Final     words     and     benediction. — Ch. 

16:17-27. 


II 

PAUL'S  TESTIMONY  OF  HIMSELF 
Ch.  I  :i 

I.  His  Name — Paul. 

II.  His  Position — Servant,  or  Slave.  He 
was  not  his  own.  His  master  was  responsible 
for  him. 

III.  His  Calling  as  an  Apostle. 

IV.  His  Life — "Separated  unto  the  Gospel  of 
God." 

V.  The  Cost  of  His  Testimony. 

1.  His  religion. 

2.  His  home. 

3.  His  companions. 

4.  His  fame  or  position. 

5.  His  wealth. 

VI.  His  Gain — His  crown. 

First,  we  must  consider  Paul's  testimony  of 
himself.  It  is  a  very  peculiar  sort  of  testimony 
that  he  gives.  He  starts  out  by  telling  who  he 
is,  and  to  do  that  he  simply  has  to  mention  his 
name. 

Paul  had  two  names.  First  he  was  Saul  of 
Tarsus,  and  then  Paul.  Saul  was  his  pre- 
Christian  name.     Paul  was  his  Christian  name. 


Paul's  Testimony  of  Himself      i  3 

Saul  was  the  name  given  him  by  his  parents,  or 
someone  else  in  the  early  part  of  his  life,  or  else 
he  chose  it  for  himself  after  he  was  old  enough, 
for  this  was  often  done. 

The  change  from  Saul  to  Paul  is  very  signifi- 
cant. Saul  means  great,  important;  Paul  means 
little,  insignificant. 

His  parents  doubtless  gave  him  his  name 
'"great"  after  they  saw  his  promise.  When  he 
found  the  Lord,  and  learned  what  it  was  to  be  a 
follower  of  Jesus  Christ,  he  selected  for  himself 
his  permanent  name,  which  was  "little,  insignifi- 
cant." And  this  characteristic  followed  Paul  all 
through  his  ministry,  hiding  himself  that  Christ 
only  might  be  seen. 

The  next  thing  that  he  has  to  say  about  him- 
self is  that  he  is  a  "servant  of  Jesus  Christ."  It 
is  very  striking  that  Paul,  in  writing  to  the 
Romans,  spoke  of  himself  as  a  servant.  He  was 
writing  to  a  people  who  despised  servitude.  If 
there  ever  was  a  people  who  hated  servitude  it 
was  the  Romans.  The  Roman  citizen  gloated  in 
the  thought  of  power.  He  reveled  in  wielding 
the  sword.  He  never  dreamed  of  being  a  servant. 
He  was  a  master  among  men,  and  the  Apostle 
Paul  understood  that.  He  understood  it  much 
better  than  we  understand  it,  for  he  lived  in  the 
time  of  the  glory  of  Rome,  and  yet,  in  writing 
to  the  Church  at  Rome,  he  introduced  himself 
as  a  "servant." 

Then,  it  is  still  more  significant  when  we  see 


14     Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

what  kind  of  a  servant  he  introduced  himself  to 
be.  There  are  many  kinds  of  servants  described 
in  the  Scriptures,  and  at  this  particular  point  it 
is  significant  to  note  that  the  Apostle  Paul  is  in- 
troducing himself  as  the  most  menial  of  all  serv- 
ants; as  not  only  a  servant  in  the  sense  that 
a  clerk  in  a  store  is  a  servant,  but  a  servant  dis- 
tinctly menial,  doing  the  work  of  drudgery — "a 
bondslave."  The  Greek  means  that.  That  is 
the  kind  of  servant  that  Paul  was  to  Jesus  Christ. 

Then  it  is  still  more  significant  when  you  take 
into  account  the  fact  that  he  is  not  only  a  menial 
servant,  but  that  he  is  a  menial  servant  and  bond- 
slave of  the  Christ  whom  the  Romans  despised 
and  rejected,  whom  they  had  helped  to  crucify. 
He  was  the  menial,  humble  bondslave  of  this 
Christ,  this  despised,  rejected  Nazarene. 

Such  a  testimony,  such  an  introduction  as  this 
the  world  has  never  seen  and  never  will  see  again 
in  the  history  of  the  globe.  If  we  were  going  to 
introduce  ourselves  to  some  congregation,  we 
would  want  to  gather  up  all  the  testimonies  that 
we  could  find  of  our  greatness  and  goodness.  Is 
it  not  a  wonderful,  striking  thing  that  the  Apos- 
tle Paul  says  nothing  about  the  fact  that  he  was 
once  a  member  of  the  Jewish  Sanhedrin?  The 
mention  of  that  would  have  carried  weight  and 
power  and  significance  with  it,  for  he  was  writing 
to  Jews  and  Gentiles  who  made  up  the  member- 
ship of  the  Roman  Church.  There  is  a  great 
lesson  in  this.    The  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  does 


Paul's  Testimony  of  Himself      1 5 

not  need  the  wings  of  the  world  to  carry  it.  Paul 
did  not  need  the  testimony  of  the  wicked  San- 
hedrin  to  furnish  trappings  for  the  Gospel  of 
Christ  that  was  to  save  the  world,  hence  he  does 
not  mention  it. 

Let  us  see  what  comes  out  of  the  relationship 
of  slave.  It  is  a  fact  that  every  man  is  a  slave  of 
some  kind.  We  may  not  be  so  proclaimed,  and 
the  world  may  not  so  regard  it,  but  it  is  a  fact ;  a 
slave  to  passion,  a  slave  to  pride,  to  comfort,  to 
luxury,  to  self,  to  fame,  to  beauty.  Now,  Paul 
says,  "I  am  a  slave  to  Jesus  Christ."  Christ  had 
come  with  his  scepter  and  taken  His  seat  on  the 
throne  of  his  heart.  That  is  what  it  means  to  be 
a  Christian.  We  talk  about  a  consecrated  Chris- 
tian, a  sanctified  Christian,  a  Spirit-filled  Chris- 
tian. Never  mind  about  that,  it  means  all  that  to 
be  a  Christian,  or  it  means  nothing. 

Slaves,  every  one  of  us!  Jesus  Christ  comes 
to  set  us  free  from  the  present  state  of  slavery, 
and  then  we  become  slaves  under  Him.  But, 
after  all,  is  that  slavery?  As  a  slave  of  Jesus 
Christ  one  is  not  his  own.  We  hear  a  great  deal 
in  this  day  and  time  about  "our  rights."  In 
God's  name,  I  ask  you,  is  there  any  such  thing 
as  "our  rights"?  Does  a  Christian  man  or 
woman  have  any  rights?  Can  he  have  any 
rights  ?  He  has  been  bought  with  a  price.  Christ 
is  the  purchaser,  the  blood  is  the  price.  We  are 
not  our  own  and  have  no  right  to  talk  about 
our  rights.    All  rights  are  henceforth  His  rights, 


1 6     Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

and  it  is  what  He  wants  and  not  what  we  want 
that  concerns  us  from  that  time  on. 

As  such  a  slave,  what  follows  ?  Our  Master  is 
responsible  for  us.  If  I  have  vested  all  my  rights 
in  Him,  He  is  responsible  for  my  entire  keeping. 
What  if  someone  does  trample  upon  what  I  think 
are  my  rights?  God  is  responsible.  I  can  go  to 
Him  and  look  Him  in  the  face  and  tell  Him  all, 
and  then  leave  it  to  Him. 

You  have  heard  of  Sophy,  the  Spirit-filled 
washerwoman.  She  was  once  visited  by  a  rental 
agent  at  a  time  when  she  did  not  have  the  money 
for  her  rent.  She  had  had  the  rheumatism,  and 
had  not  been  able  to  stand  over  the  wash-tub  as 
usual,  and  so  had  no  money  for  the  rent.  The 
renting  agent  told  her  that  he  would  put  her  out 
of  the  house  if  she  did  not  produce  the  money  the 
next  day. 

Sophy  replied,  "Do  you  think  you  will  ?  Well, 
you  don't  know  my  Master." 

That  night  Sophy  got  down  on  her  knees  and 
prayed  like  this:  "Lord,  I  am  your  child,  and 
do  you  think  it  will  be  any  credit  to  you  for  your 
child  to  be  put  out  into  a  bank  of  snow  when  she 
is  sick?  If  you  think  so,  all  right,  but  I  declare 
to  you.  Lord,  I  don't  think  it  would  be  very  much 
to  your  credit." 

Next  morning,  before  the  rental  agent  came,  a 
woman  from  South  Carolina  came  in  and  left 
just  the  amount  needed.  As  she  placed  it  in  the 
agent's  hand  she  said:     "You  don't  know  my 


Paul's  Testimony  of  Himself      1 7 

Master.  If  you  did,  you  would  never  talk  to  one 
of  His  children  like  you  did  to  me  yesterday." 

What  Sophy  said  is  exactly  true.  If  Jesus 
Christ  is  my  Lord  and  Master,  if  I  have  vested 
in  Him  my  rights,  then  He  is  responsible  for  me, 
and  I  have  a  perfect  right  to  go  to  Him  and 
say,  "Lord,  I  have  given  you  everything  that  I 
have,  and  I  now  depend  upon  you." 

Paul  also  says  of  his  position  that  he  is  called 
to  be  an  apostle.  He  does  not  say,  "I  chose  to  be 
an  apostle."  There  is  a  difference  between  choos- 
ing a  thing  and  being  called  to  a  thing,  and  in 
that  very  difference  lies  the  secret  of  the  failure 
of  many  good  men  and  women.  They  have 
chosen  to  be  such  and  such  a  thing,  and  have 
never  been  called.  Some  ministers  have  chosen 
to  preach,  and  have  never  been  called.  Some 
Sunday-school  teachers  have  chosen  to  teach 
Sunday-school  classes  and  have  never  been  called. 
Some  lawyers  have  chosen  to  be  lawyers  and 
have  never  been  called.  Some  merchants  have 
chosen  to  be  merchants  and  have  never  been 
called.  God  wanted  them  to  preach  or  to  teach 
or  to  ditch  or  to  clerk. 

Every  man  is  called  of  God  to  his  life-work. 
He  may  never  hear  the  call,  nor  heed  it ;  he  may 
never  get  closely  enough  in  touch  to  hear  it.  The 
merchant  has  as  distinct  a  call  to  sell  goods  as  I 
have  to  preach.  The  quicker  we  realize  that  God 
has  a  plan  and  a  purpose  for  every  human  life, 
the  better  it  will  be. 


1 8     Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

Paul  says  that  he  was  called  to  be  an  apostle, 
and  he  says  concerning  his  life  that  he  was  sep- 
arated unto  the  Gospel  of  God.  Paul  did  not  live 
the  life  of  a  hermit.  Some  people's  idea  of  the 
separate  life  is  that  they  must  become  hermits 
while  in  this  world ;  that  is  to  say,  they  must  have 
a  hiding-place  and  never  come  in  touch  with  the 
everyday  thought  and  conduct  of  the  world. 
Some  of  the  best  people  that  I  know  are  mistaken 
at  that  point,  and  are  wrecking  their  spiritual 
lives  and  preventing  their  usefulness. 

For  instance,  a  woman  some  time  ago  came  to 
me  and  said,  "I  have  decided  to  consecrate  my 
life  to  God,  and  therefore  I  cannot  do  this." 
The  thing  that  she  was  talking  about  was  a  very 
simple  thing;  it  will  surprise  you  to  know  just 
how  simple  it  was — absolutely  a  thing  without 
harm.  A  simple  little  act  of  pleasantry,  but  she 
could  not  do  it  because  she  had  consecrated  her 
life.  It  was  this:  The  Ladies'  Aid  Society  was 
going  to  give  a  New  Year's  reception,  and  they 
were  going  to  have  music,  speeches,  etc.  Now 
the  trouble  with  her  was  that  she  had  an  idea  that 
to  be  consecrated  meant  a  complete  segregation 
of  herself  from  all  pleasure. 

It  was  not  so  with  the  Apostle  Paul.  He  lived 
and  worked  with  the  people  of  his  day.  He  was 
"Separated  unto  the  Gospel  of  God,"  making 
tents,  just  as  much  as  he  was  preaching  the  Gos- 
pel. He  was  a  tent-maker,  and  never  gave  up 
his  vocation.    His  purpose  was  to  teach  the  wide 


PauPs  Testimony  of  Himself      1 9 

world  the  great  truth  of  sanctified  toil — that  a 
man  can  be  absolutely  separated  from  the  world 
while  he  is  making  tents. 

A  man  can  enter  his  closet  any  time  and  any- 
where and  pray.  The  closet  is  not  necessarily  a 
little  corner  in  which  the  dirty  clothes  are  thrown. 
A  closet  is  a  shut-in  place.  Wherever  a  man  may 
be,  if  he  feels  that  he  must  shut  out  everything 
and  talk  to  Jesus,  there  is  the  closet.  There  is 
the  separate  man  who,  though  he  is  in  the  midst 
of  the  trials  and  tribulations  and  business  of  the 
great  throbbing  heart  of  the  world,  lives  unto 
God  a  clean,  upright,  manly  life.  That  is  the 
separate  man;  and  every  stroke  of  the  hammer, 
and  every  stitch  of  the  needle,  and  every  turn  of 
the  wheel  is  "unto  the  Gospel  of  God." 

Now,  my  next  thought  is  just  a  word  concern- 
ing the  cost  of  Paul's  testimony.  First,  it  cost 
him  his  religion.  He  was  strictly  religious:  a 
Jew  of  the  Jews.  When  he  came  into  this  new 
experience  and  got  this  delightful  testimony,  it 
caused  him  to  sacrifice  the  religion  of  his  coun- 
try, the  religion  of  his  mother.  It  is  not  an  easy 
thing  to  go  back  upon  the  religion  that  one  is 
trained  to  follow. 

Second,  it  cost  him  his  home.  You  cannot 
imagine  in  this  day  and  time  how  much  it  meant 
for  Paul  to  turn  his  back  upon  the  teaching  of  the 
Jews  and  become  the  servant  of  the  meek  and 
lowly  Jesus.  His  home  would  be  shut  against 
him.     His  parents  and  his  people  would  look 


20     Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

upon  him  with  contempt  and  shame.  I  tell  you 
that  is  not  an  easy  thing. 

Third,  it  cost  him  his  companions.  Think  of 
the  other  members  of  the  Sanhedrin  with  whom 
he  had  sympathized  and  planned  and  projected. 

He  had  sat  in  the  council  chamber  many  and 
many  a  time  when  Christ  was  being  discussed  and 
he  had  joined  with  them  and  said,  "J^sus  must 
be  crucified.  We  will  not  stand  it.  He  is  a 
usurper  of  our  rights."  And  now  he  must  eat 
his  words.  There  are  very  few  of  us  to-day  who 
would  dare  to  do  that. 

It  cost  him  his  fame.  He  had  built  up  a  great 
name;  a  member  of  the  Sanhedrin;  a  man  who 
stood  right  at  the  top  in  the  political  world,  and 
whose  influence  reached  far  and  wide.  It  cost 
him  that. 

Lastly,  it  cost  him  his  wealth.  He  was  at  one 
time  a  wealthy  young  man,  but  when  he  gave  up 
his  seat  in  the  Sanhedrin,  his  home,  his  friends, 
his  inheritance  went  also. 

My  brother,  until  the  love  of  Jesus  has  got 
down  so  deep  that  we  are  willing  to  sacrifice  our 
money  if  needs  be  for  Him,  we  do  not  know  what 
it  means  to  be  a  believer  in  Jesus  Christ.  The 
world  is  just  waking  up  to  the  realization  of 
what  it  means  to  be  a  Christian. 

My  last  thought  is  of  Paul's  gain.  "Brother 
Paul,  I  have  been  talking  about  your  trials  while 
on  earth.  You  have  been  with  Jesus  for  two 
thousand  years,  what  have  you  to  say  now?" 


Paul's  Testimony  of  Himself     2 1 

"I  have  fought  a  good  fight.  I  have  kept  the 
faith.  Henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for  me  a 
crown  of  righteousness." 

It  is  a  question  which  we  each  must  decide; 
whether  we  had  rather  be  Saul,  a  member  of  the 
Jewish  Sanhedrin,  lost  forever,  or  Paul,  the  ser- 
vant of  Jesus,  the  despised  Nazarene,  surrounded 
by  the  angels,  associating  with  the  saints  of  past 
ages,  wearing  his  bright  and  shining  crown. 


Ill 

TESTIMONY  OF  CHRIST 

Ch.  1:1-5 

I.  Who  He  Is. 

1.  Promised  by  the  Prophets. 

2.  The  Son  of  God. 

3.  Of  the  Seed  of  David. 

II.  His  Power — "Resurrection." 

1.  Mastery  over  Death. 

2.  Essential  to  Salvation  (i  Cor.  15:12-23). 

III.  His     Position — "Jesus     Christ     Our 
Lord."    Comprehended  in: 

1.  Salvation. 

2.  Government. 

Let  us  see  to  v^hat  extent  Jesus  was  promised 
by  the  prophets: 

Gen.  3  :i5 — The  seed  of  woman. 

Isa.  7:14 — Born  of  a  Virgin. 

Mic.  5:2 — At  Bethlehem. 

Zech.  9:9 — Entry  into  Jerusalem. 

Zech.  13 :7 — Smitten  by  sword. 

Zech.  11:12 — Sold  for  thirty  pieces  of  silver. 

Zech.  II  :i3 — Potter's  field  bought. 

Isa.  15  :6— Spit  upon  and  scoiirged. 


Testimony  of  Christ  23 

Ex.  12:46 — Not  a  bone  broken. 

Ps.  69:21 — Gall  and  vinegar. 

Ps.  22:8 — Taunted  with  non-deliverance. 

Ps.  22  :y — Mocked. 

Ps.  22:16 — Feet  pierced. 

Isa.  53 :3 — Despised  and  rejected. 

Isa.  53 :7 — Opened  not  His  mouth. 

Isa.  53 :8 — Moved  from  court  to  court. 

Isa.  53:9 — Proven  guiltless. 

Isa.  53:10 — Bruised  of  God. 

As  I  have  gone  over  these  verses  and  thought 
over  them  I  have  felt  such  an  overcoming  sense 
of  the  vitality  of  the  Scriptures  as  I  have  never 
felt  before  in  my  life.  I  have  felt  that  the  Scrip- 
tures themselves  have  not  had  a  chance  to  do 
what  God  intends  that  they  should  do;  that  the 
only  thing  in  the  world  that  is  needed  is  for  the 
Scriptures  to  have  a  chance.  The  only  thing  that 
is  needed  for  the  opening  of  the  eyes  of  the 
world  to  Jesus  Christ  is  to  give  God's  word  a 
simple,  honest  chance.  Now,  just  think  of  it  for 
a  moment.  Here  are  these  prophecies.  They 
date  back  to  the  Garden  of  Eden,  and  range  all 
the  way  from  the  Garden  of  Eden  to  the  com- 
ing of  Christ.  They  are  prophecies  which  deal 
with  every  minute  detail  of  His  life  and  His 
death,  and  they  are  prophecies,  every  single  one 
of  them,  fulfilled  in  His  coming.  His  Hfe,  and  in 
His  death. 

Take  such  prophecies  as  we  are  dealing  with 
here :  The  piercing  of  His  feet,  a  prophecy  made 


24    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

1,000  years  before  Jesus'  feet  were  ever  pierced. 
Bethlehem  was  the  last  place  in  the  world  to  look 
for  the  Messiah  to  come  from,  yet  more  than 
seven  hundred  years  before  Christ  was  born  we 
have  the  prophet  telling  us  that  He  was  to  come 
from  Bethlehem. 

The  only  thing  needed  to  convince  the  skepti- 
cism of  the  world  is  to  give  the  Old  Testament  a 
fair  chance.  I  defy  any  man  to  go  to  the  Old 
Testament  Scriptures  for  light  concerning  the 
Messiah  and  go  away  not  believing  that  Christ 
was  the  Son  of  God. 

But  there  is  another  thing  that  I  want  we 
should  see  under  this  general  division.  The 
Apostle  speaks  of  Jesus  as  the  "Son  of  God,"  as 
well  as  the  promised  One.  Now,  we  find  it  not 
difficult  to  accept  Jesus  as  the  Son  of  God.  There 
is  not  very  much  controversy  about  that,  pro- 
viding that  nothing  else  followed.  The  world 
expected  that  in  some  way  the  Messiah  would  be 
connected  with  God.  There  never  would  have 
been  any  objection  to  Jesus  if  it  had  ended  there, 
but  Paul  goes  a  step  further.  He  states  (and 
this  is  responsible  for  the  skepticism  about  Jesus 
Christ)  that  He  is  also  ''of  the  Seed  of  David 
according  to  the  flesh." 

Now  that  is  where  the  trouble  began.  When 
Paul  declared  that  Jesus  Christ  was  the  Son  of 
God,  and  also  of  the  seed  of  David  according  to 
the  flesh,  he  took  one  step  too  much  for  the 
skeptical  world.     I  confess  that  there  was  one 


Testimony  of  Christ  25 

time  in  my  life  when  this  very  fact  was  to  me 
a  great  stumbling-block.  I  know  well  how  it 
came  about.  I  got  to  thinking  about  the  unrea- 
sonableness of  the  virgin  conception  and  birth 
of  our  Lord. 

I  was  a  young  medical  student,  and  was  deal- 
ing more  with  science  than  sense,  as  a  great  many 
other  people  are  doing  to-day,  and  I  got  my  head 
all  wool-gathering  on  the  subject  of  the  incarna- 
tion. I  said  that  it  was  incompatible  with  the  law 
of  nature  for  that  thing  to  be.  Mary  was  bound 
to  have  falsified.  I  went  as  far  as  any  man  ever 
went  in  his  accusations  of  Mary.  However,  I 
was  not  so  silly  as  to  speak  my  thoughts  from  the 
house-top.  I  was  ashamed  of  them,  but  I  had 
them  in  my  heart.  Those  were  terribly  black  and 
gloomy  days,  when  I  felt  the  faith  of  my  mother 
and  my  training  slipping  from  me. 

I  went  to  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
scholars  and  Bible  students  of  the  country,  and 
asked  him  to  give  me  a  bit  of  his  time  to 
straighten  me  out.  He  took  me  into  a  long  course 
of  reasoning  which  to  me  did  not  reason  at  all. 
There  was  no  reason  in  it,  and  there  is  no  reason 
in  any  argument  that  can  be  put  up  about  this 
matter.  Men  who  attempt  to  reason  this  thing 
out  make  themselves  silly,  because  this  is  one  of 
the  things  in  the  face  of  which  reason  staggers. 
A  scholarly  physician  once  went  to  Dr.  P.  H. 
Mell  with  this  question.    He  said : 

"Doctor,  I  would  believe  in  Christianity  if  I 


26     Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology- 
could   explain   the   supernatural   generation   of 
Christ." 

Dr.  Mell  replied :  "Well,  Doctor,  can  you  ex- 
plain natural  generation  in  any  case  ?" 

The  physician  hesitated  and  then  admitted  that 
he  could  not.  Supernatural  generation  is  no 
greater  mystery  than  natural  generation. 

My  friend  tried  to  reason  with  me  about  it, 
and  the  more  he  reasoned,  the  deeper  the  mys- 
tery. I  finished  my  medical  education,  and  went 
to  the  backwoods  to  begin  my  practice,  and  one 
Sunday  morning  a  backwoods  preacher  at  an  old 
country  meeting-house  knocked  out  more  skepti- 
cism in  one-half  hour  than  I  had  gotten  in  three 
years,  and  this  is  the  way  he  did  it.  He  said: 
"If  there  is  anybody  here  who  is  troubled  about 
the  mystery  of  God  becoming  man,  I  want  to 
take  you  back  to  the  first  verse  of  the  first  chap- 
ter of  Genesis.     Tn  the  beginning  God.' " 

He  looked  down  into  the  audience  very  search- 
ingly,  and  I  felt  like  he  was  looking  directly  at 
me.  He  continued :  "My  brother,  let  me  ask  you 
this :  Do  you  believe  that  God  was  in  the  begin- 
ning? That  is  to  say,  that  before  the  beginning 
began  God  was?"  I  said  to  myself,  "Yes,  I  be- 
lieve that."  "Now,"  he  said,  "if  you  believe  that 
God  was  ahead  of  the  beginning,  you  believe  the 
one  mysterious  thing  of  this  universe.  If  I  be- 
lieved that,  God  knows  I  could  believe  anything 
else  in  the  world." 

I   had   gone   to   college   and   travelled   clean 


Testimony  of  Christ  27 

through  the  mysteries  of  the  theory  of  reproduc- 
tion and  cell  formation,  and  had  come  out  to 
realize  that  I  was  just  a  common  fool;  that  if 
God  was  in  the  beginning,  that  was  the  one  su- 
preme mystery  of  all  mysteries  of  this  mysterious 
universe  of  God. 

I  have  been  using  that  same  argument  ever 
since.  I  do  not  want  anything  better  to  crack 
skeptics  over  the  head  with.  When  I  ask  them 
this  question,  they  always  say,  "Yes."  We  have 
very  few  outright  infidels  to-day.  Almost  every- 
body believes  in  God — that  away  back  yonder  be- 
fore the  beginning  God  was,  and  I  always  hold 
them  right  down  to  this : 

"Think  about  all  the  doubts  that  you  have  ever 
had  about  it,  and  then  answer  me  this  question: 
after  all  these  doubts,  do  you  believe  that  away 
back  yonder  at  the  beginning  was  God?"  Then 
I  tell  them  that  if  I  believed  that  God  was  in 
the  beginning  I  could  believe  anything  that  He 
says ;  that  if  He  was  so  great  as  to  create  Him- 
self in  the  beginning.  He  could  create  Himself 
through  the  womb  of  a  virgin  woman. 

The  Apostle  Paul  believed  that  Jesus  was  the 
Son  of  God,  and  not  only  the  Son  of  God,  but  "of 
the  seed  of  David,  according  to  the  flesh."  Jesus 
Christ  developed  just  like  any  other  child  up  to 
the  point  of  His  birth,  and  after  his  birth  He  con- 
tinued to  grow  just  like  any  other  child. 

Now  you  will  notice  another  thing.  Paul 
speaks  of  "His  power."     First,  it  was  His  origin, 


28     Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

and  now  it  is  ''His  power,"  and  all  this  attested 
by  "the  resurrection."  He  has  introduced  Jesus 
to  us  as  "Promised  by  the  prophets,"  "The  Son 
of  God,"  "Of  the  Seed  of  David,  according  to 
the  flesh,"  and  now.  His  power,  according  to  the 
resurrection.  His  resurrection  is  the  expression 
of  his  power. 

I  want  to  notice  something  of  the  signifi- 
cance of  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection.  Why 
did  Paul,  in  introducing  Jesus  Christ  to  the 
Romans,  speak  of  His  resurrection?  First  of  all, 
because  Paul  himself  had  a  personal  knowledge 
that  Jesus  Christ  had  arisen  from  the  dead.  He 
had  seen  Him.  He  had  appeared  to  him,  and  as- 
sured him  that  He  had  arisen  from  the  dead; 
and  then  he  had  the  testimony  of  the  rest  of  the 
Apostles,  and  a  host  of  others.  Paul  had  no 
doubt  about  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ. 

He  testified  to  them  concerning  the  resurrec- 
tion, first,  because  of  his  own  personal  knowl- 
edge, and  second,  because  of  the  deep  significance 
of  the  fact  of  the  resurrection  to  the  Church  of 
Jesus  Christ.  What  is  the  significance  of  the 
resurrection?  Let  us  go  to  the  fifteenth  chapter 
of  First  Corinthians  and  get  it.  What,  accord- 
ing to  this,  is  the  significance  of  the  resurrection  ? 

It  is  this:  If  Jesus  arose  not  from  the  dead, 
then  our  faith  is  vain.  We  hear  men  to-day  pooh- 
poohing  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ;  some 
theologians,  Bible  teachers,  and  preachers.  How 
can  they  do  it  when  they  are  confronted  with 


Testimony  of  Christ  29 

the  plain  assertion  of  the  Apostle  Paul  ?  I  cannot 
see  how  any  man  who  claims  any  intimacy  with 
his  Bible  and  who  fears  God  can  make  a  state- 
ment disparaging  the  resurrection. 

There  are  two  things  essential  to  salvation. 
The  first  is  the  crucifixion  of  Jesus  Christ,  and 
the  next  is  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Now,  in  the  Lord's  supper  we  celebrate  the  cruci- 
fixion, His  broken  body  and  shed  blood;  in  Bap- 
tism we, celebrate  the  burial  and  resurrection  of 
Jesus.  Thus  in  these  types,  one  by  communion 
and  the  other  by  baptism,  we  set  forth  to  the 
world  the  two  essential  things  that  enter  into  the 
salvation  of  the  world;  namely,  crucifixion  and 
resurrection. 

I  never  come  to  the  Lord's  table  that  I  do  not 
look  to  the  cross;  and  I  never  come  to  baptism 
that  I  do  not  see  the  resurrection.  And  in  these 
two  simple  types  we  set  forth  to  the  world  the 
plan  of  human  redemption. 

Understand,  I  do  not  say  that  communion  is 
essential  to  salvation,  nor  do  I  say  that  baptism 
is  essential  to  salvation.  I  say  that  the  two 
things  that  are  essential  to  salvation,  crucifixion 
and  resurrection,  are  set  forth  in  these  types. 

We  are  now  ready  to  come  to  the  next 
thought,  which  is  the  closing  thought  in  this 
present  study.  His  position.  Here  is  some- 
thing very  deeply  significant.  "Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord."  You  will  be  struck  with  that  expression, 
"Our  Lord."    What  is  the  meaning  of  the  word 


30     Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

Lord  as  we  find  it  used  here?  It  means  Divine 
Sovereign. 

As  our  Divine  Sovereign,  there  are  five  things 
that  we  are  to  keep  in  mind.  First,  His  attitude 
with  respect  to  Hfe.  He  cannot  be  our  Master 
unless  we  have  His  attitude,  for  He  does  not 
simply  master  the  flesh.  He  masters  the  will; 
He  masters  the  spirit;  the  inner  man  as  well  as 
the  outer  man ;  the  whole  of  life,  body,  soul,  and 
spirit.  Thus  mastered,  we  assume  His  attitude 
with  respect  to  life. 

That  is  to  say,  we  assume  first  His  attitude 
with  reference  to  the  Father;  second,  with  re- 
spect to  the  devil ;  third,  with  respect  to  enemies ; 
fourth,  with  respect  to  lost  souls. 

It  seems  to  me  that  this  compasses  the  whole 
realm  of  His  life.  Let  us  see:  As  our  Divine 
Sovereign  we  have  assumed  His  attitude  with 
respect  to  everything.  First,  what  was  His  at- 
titude with  respect  to  the  Father?  Here  it  is: 
"My  meat  is  to  do  my  Father's  will."  Now, 
when  we  speak  of  Jesus  as  our  Lord  and  Mas- 
ter, if  we  speak  the  truth  we  mean  this,  that 
our  meat  is  to  do  the  will  of  our  Father  and 
nothing  else.  Is  it  our  meat  to  do  the  will  of 
our  Father  in  heaven,  or  do  we  want  to  do  partly 
our  Father's  will  and  partly  our  own  will?  If 
the  former  is  true,  then  we  have  a  right  to  join 
in  with  Paul,  and  say,  ''Our  Lord."  If  this  is 
not  true,  we  cannot  say  it. 

His  attitude  with  respect  to  the  devil.    After 


Testimony  of  Christ  3 1 

the  Baptism  Jesus  was  led  up  into  the  wilder- 
ness to  be  tempted  of  the  devil.  The  Spirit  often 
does  this.  He  leads  man  in  the  ways  of  tempta- 
tion that  He  may  try  him,  but  He  does  not  pro- 
pose to  turn  His  back  on  him  after  He  has  led 
him  there. 

When  Jesus  got  up  into  the  wilderness,  He 
was  struck  at  three  points  common  to  man.  He 
was  struck  at  the  point  of  His  appetite.  He 
was  struck  at  the  point  of  faith.  He  was  struck 
at  the  point  of  desire  for  worldly  possession. 
What  was  Jesus'  attitude  toward  the  devil  at 
these  points  ?    Here  it  is,  "Get  thee  hence." 

Take  the  attitude  of  Jesus  concerning  His  ene- 
mies that  we  assume  likewise  if  He  is  our  Lord. 
What  was  His  attitude  concerning  His  enemies? 
Hanging  upon  Calvary's  cross,  with  His  enemies 
mocking,  jeering,  and  actually  crucifying  Him 
without  cause,  what  was  His  attitude  ?  "Father, 
forgive  them.  They  know  not  what  they  do." 
Our  attitude  too  frequently  about  our  enemies 
is  to  curse  them.  They  are  after  us.  They  are 
interfering  with  our  rights.  Jesus'  attitude  was, 
"Father,  forgive  them."  Men  who  join  with  the 
Apostle  Paul  and  say,  "Our  Lord,"  are  the  men 
who  have  that  attitude  concerning  their  enemies. 
If  you  have  not  that  attitude,  stop  calling  Him 
"Our  Lord."    It  is  mockery. 

Is  it  true  that  He  is  our  Lord,  our  Divine 
Sovereign,  the  ruling  Master  of  our  whole  be- 
ing?   If  it  is  not,  He  is  nothing. 


32     Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

Lastly,  take  His  attitude  concerning  lost  souls. 
What  is  His  attitude  with  respect  to  them  ?  "The 
Son  of  Man  came  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which 
was  lost."  That  is  to  say,  the  whole  mission 
of  Jesus  was  seeking  to  save  the  lost.  If  Jesus 
ate  a  meal,  it  was  to  enable  Him  to  do  the  work 
of  His  Father  in  saving  souls.  If  Jesus  made 
a  garment,  or  purchased  one,  if  He  dressed  Him- 
self in  the  morning,  it  was  that  He  might  win 
souls.  If  Jesus  studied  to  know  the  customs 
of  the  people,  it  was  that  through  the  observance 
of  the  customs  of  the  people  He  might  better 
win  souls  to  God.  Now,  my  brethren,  hear  this : 
Jesus  said,  "As  my  Father  hath  sent  me,  even 
so  send  I  you."  That  is  to  say,  the  mission 
that  Jesus  had,  we  have,  if  He  is  our  Lord  and 
Master.  If  He  is  our  Divine  Sovereign,  then 
His  mission  is  our  mission,  and  just  as  every- 
thing He  did  was  for  the  purpose  of  enabling 
Him  to  do  more  soul-winning,  so  it  must  be  true 
with  us.  If  you  are  a  merchant,  your  mer- 
chandise is  to  help  you  do  more  soul-winning. 
If  you  are  a  housekeeper,  or  nurse,  it  is  the  same. 
The  one  object  of  every  child  of  God  who  says, 
"My  Lord  and  Master,"  is  to  win  souls  to  Christ. 

The  other  day  I  took  up  a  magnet.  It  was  a 
very  strong  instrument.  I  observed  that  it  took 
up  a  piece  of  steel  two  or  three  times  its  own 
weight.  When  that  piece  of  steel  was  covered 
with  tin  or  nickel  it  did  not  pick  it  up.  You 
can  rub  the  magnet  all  over  it,  and  it  will  stay 


Testimony  of  Christ  33 

where  it  is.  There  is  no  connection  between  the 
steel  and  the  power  of  the  magnet.  The  piece 
of  tin  cuts  it  off  from  the  power  of  the  magnet. 
Now,  Jesus  Christ  as  our  Lord  and  Master,  as 
our  Divine  Sovereign,  is  the  great  magnet  of 
power.  The  only  reason  to-day  why  we  have 
missed  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ,  with  its  power, 
is  because  He,  as  our  great  magnet,  is  severed 
from  us  by  the  coating  of  unbelief  with  which 
we  have  covered  our  lives,  and  the  only  need 
of  the  Church  to-day,  as  I  see  it,  is  to  get  the 
coating  off  and  let  Christ,  as  Magnet,  and  our- 
selves come  in  touch.  When  we  do  this,  the 
power  of  heaven  will  course  through  our  lives 
and  lift  us  into  the  presence  of  our  Lord. 


IV 

TESTIMONY  OF  THE  CHURCH 
Ch.  I  7-12 

I.  Who  Makes  up  the  Church? 

1.  Beloved  of  God. 

2.  Called  Saints. 

II.  His  Feelings  for  the  Church. 

1.  Thanks  God  for  Their  Faith. 

2.  Makes  Mention  of  Them  in  Prayer. 

3.  Desires  to  See  Them. 

4.  That  They  Might  Be  Established. 

5.  That  They  Might  Comfort  Each  Other. 

III.  Practical  Suggestion  Concerning  the 
Church. 

1.  It  is  of  Divine  Origin. 

2.  It  Has  Divine  Conditions  for  Member- 

ship. 

3.  It  Imposes  Divine  Obligations. 

4.  It  Results  in  Divine  Blessings. 

We  are  still  dealing  with  the  first  section  of 
the  Epistle,  the  section  of  introduction,  in  which 
we  have  Paul's  fourfold  testimony:  His  testi- 
mony of  himself,  of  Christ,  of  the  Church,  of 
the  Gospel.  We  have  considered  his  testimony 
of  himself  and  his  testimony  of  Christ,  and  now 
34 


Testimony  of  the  Church         35 

we  come  to  take  up  his  testimony  of  the  Church, 
and  we  find  this  in  Ch.  i  '.y-12  inclusive. 

Who  Makes  up  the  Church? 

1.  "Beloved  of  God." 

2.  "Called  Saints." 

There  is  an  apparent  omission  here.  The  old 
authorized  version  and  the  American  revised  sub- 
stitute "to  be,"  but  it  is  hardly  proper  to  call 
it  a  substitute,  though  it  is  not  contained  in  the 
original  text  as  distinct  words.  The  Greek  word 
means  those  who  are  called  to  be,  or  to  do  some- 
thing. They  are  first,  beloved  of  God.  God 
loved  everybody  in  Rome,  as  God  loves  every- 
body in  the  wide,  wide  world.  "For  God  so 
loved  the  world  that  He  gave  His  only  begotten 
Son,  that  whosoever  believed  in  Him,  should  not 
perish,  but  have  everlasting  life." 

That  is  the  expression  of  God's  love  to  the 
world  at  large,  but  God  loved  the  Church  at 
Rome  with  a  different  love  from  that  love  which 
He  had  for  the  entire  world.  God  loves  the 
Church  with  a  different  love  from  that  which 
He  has  for  the  world.  God  loves  the  Church 
as  a  father  loves  an  obedient,  loving,  sympathiz- 
ing, helping  child.  A  father  naturally  loves  all 
his  children,  but  any  father  knows  that  he  loves 
that  obedient,  trustful,  sympathizing,  helpful 
child  with  a  very  different  love  from  that  which 
he  has  for  the  one-  indifferent  to  his  will  and 
his  wish.     So  it  is  with  respect  to  us  who  are 


36     Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

God's  children  by  re-creation.  We  are  His 
children  in  the  sense  that  He  created  us,  and 
in  that  sense  He  loves  us  and  feels  a  responsi- 
bility for  us.  He  feels  a  responsibility  for  us 
which  is  so  great  that  He  robbed  Himself  of  the 
presence  of  His  only  Son  and  sent  Him  to  this 
world  to  live  and  die  that  we  might  be  saved.  But 
there  is  a  very  different  sense  in  which  God  loves 
His  own  children  by  re-creation.  He  loves  them 
as  obedient,  loving,  trusting,  confiding,  promis- 
ing children. 

Then  you  will  observe  that  they  are  called  from 
among  His  other  creatures  to  be  "saints."  Now 
this  word  translated  saints  is  a  word  which  needs 
some  study  in  order  to  get  the  full  force  of  its 
meaning.  "Called  saints,"  that  is  to  say,  they 
are  saints  by  way  of  a  calling.  No  man  ever 
became  a  saint  in  any  other  way  than  by  way  of  a 
calling  from  God.  No  man  ever  became  a  Chris- 
tian except  by  way  of  a  calling.  No  man  ever 
came  to  Christ  who  was  not  called  before  he  came. 
I  believe  God  calls  every  man,  whether  he  be  in 
this  country  or  some  dark  heathen  corner  of  earth. 

I  was  talking  to  a  missionary  who  had  made  a 
study  of  the  conditions  of  the  race,  and  he  said 
that  he  had  never  yet  found  a  man,  however  deep 
in  ignorance  and  superstition,  but  that  in  his  heart 
there  was  something  that  pointed  him  to  a  better 
life;  a  life  of  justice  and  equity  with  regard  to 
his  relations  to  his  fellow-men.  There  was  al- 
ways   something,    somehow,    somewhere,    that 


Testimony  of  the  Church        37 

worked  upon  their  consciences  and  told  them  of 
a  better  life  and  a  better  way.  I  believe  that  that 
is  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  I  believe  that  a  man 
who  lives  in  accordance  with  the  light  that  God 
gives  him  is  saved. 

This  expression  means  more  than  that.  It 
means  that  they  are  what  they  have  come  to; 
that  they  are  in  fact  saints,  as  they  are  called 
saints.  It  meant  a  great  deal  for  those  people 
there  in  Rome  to  come  out  and  join  the  Church 
of  Christ.  It  meant  a  great  deal  anywhere  in 
that  day  to  join  the  Church  of  Christ.  You  may 
rest  assured  that  those  people  who  came  out  and 
connected  themselves  with  the  Church  in  those 
days  were  what  they  professed  to  be.  They  were 
what  they  were  called.  Would  to  God  that  that 
could  be  said  of  the  Church  of  this  day  and  time ; 
in  this  city;  of  my  Church;  that  it  could  be  said 
of  every  one  of  us;  that  we  are  what  we  are 
called. 

We  are  called  Christians;  would  to  God  that 
we  were  Christians.  Have  you  ever  stopped  to 
think  of  the  deep  significance  of  that  word?  Of 
all  there  is  wrapped  up  in  it?  If  so,  I  feel  that 
you  have  been  impressed  with  the  fact  that  even 
the  best  of  the  people  of  God  fall  far  short  of 
coming  up  to  their  calling. 

I  was  talking  the  other  day  with  a  skeptic.  He 
said:  'The  thing  that  staggers  me  when  I  be- 
gin to  think  of  my  relation  to  Christ,  is  the  way 
that  you  people  live.    You  claim  Him  to  be  Lord 


38     Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

and  Master,  and  I  know  from  the  study  of  His 
life  as  revealed  in  the  Gospels  that  you  are  not 
what  you  call  yourselves.  I  know  that  He  is 
not  your  Lord  and  Master.  To  be  Lord  and 
Master  of  your  lives  would  mean  a  different  thing 
from  what  I  see  exemplified.  It  seems  to  me,  as  I 
look  at  the  Church,  that  there  is  no  difference 
between  your  life  and  the  life  of  the  average 
responsible  citizen  who  makes  no  professions  at 
all  of  religion." 

This  criticism  cut  me  to  the  heart.  Now  and 
then  we  find  a  conspicuous  exception  to  this  gen- 
eral rule,  but  generally  speaking,  it  is  true.  The 
average  church  member  will  stay  away  from 
church  on  Sunday  for  want  of  a  new  hat  or 
bonnet  just  as  easily  as  one  who  is  not  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Church.  The  average  church  mem- 
ber is  just  as  sensitive  with  respect  to  his  rights 
as  the  man  outside  the  Church.  I  would  to  God 
we  were  all  what  we  are  called ;  I  would  to  God 
that  we  would  measure  up  to  our  calling  half 
as  well  as  these  Roman  Christians  measured  up 
to  theirs.  They  knew  that  this  meant  the  loss 
of  their  lives,  perhaps,  and  yet,  having  their 
hearts  fixed  upon  God,  they  were  willing  to  die. 

Then  let  us  take  further  the  consideration  of 
this  question  of  saints.  This  term  is  applied  to 
Christians  in  the  Epistles  in  two  different  ways. 
First,  as  individuals,  Eph.  1:18,  Col.  1:12.  Sec- 
ond, as  members  of  a  spiritual  community,  i  Cor. 
1:12. 


Testimony  of  the  Church        39 

The  word  translated  saints  in  Eph.  1:18,  re- 
fers entirely  to  the  holiness  of  the  individual, 
and  in  that  sense  he  uses  the  term  saints  there; 
but  I  Cor.  I  :i2  refers  to  the  members  of  a  spe- 
cific community,  as  you  would  denominate  certain 
people  who  live  in  this  city,  or  any  other  place. 

Take  another  aspect  of  the  word.  In  this  sense 
the  word  is  used  precisely  as  it  is  used  here. 
It  is  the  same  word  exactly  and  is  used  to  con- 
vey identically  the  same  idea.  It  is  "called  out 
of  and  away  from  the  rest  of  creation  to  be 
saints,  and  named  saints."  Here  he  is  writing 
to  the  Corinthian  Christians  as  members  of  a 
spiritual  organization,  the  very  same  thing  that 
he  is  referring  to  when  he  addresses  the  brethren 
in  the  Church  at  Rome,  "called  saints";  saints 
by  way  of  a  calling,  and  called  by  God;  saints 
who  are  what  they  are  called.  Just  as  it  was 
true  in  the  case  of  the  saints  at  Rome,  it  was 
true  of  the  saints  at  Corinth.  It  took  a  great 
deal  to  come  out  and  be  a  saint  in  Corinth.  It 
was  risking  their  lives,  their  standing,  friends, 
companions,  so  that  when  they  came  out  and 
joined  the  Church  they  were  men  and  women 
who  had  determined  to  live  exactly  in  keeping 
with  their  profession.  Now  let  us  consider  his 
feelings  for  the  Church. 

First,  he  thanks  God  for  their  faith.  Now  ob- 
serve what  a  vast  difference  there  is  in  the  testi- 
mony and  thankfulness  of  the  Apostle  Paul  con- 
cerning the  Church  at  Rome,  and  the  testimony 


40     Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

and  thanks  of  the  average  man  concerning  the 
Church  of  to-day.  The  Apostle  Paul,  in  com- 
mending the  Church  at  Rome,  commends  them 
for  their  faith.  When  we  wish  to  commend  a 
church  we  generally  commend  it  according  to  its 
intelligence,  or  wealth,  or  social  position,  or  num- 
bers ;  sometimes  according  to  the  location  of  the 
building,  and  the  character  of  the  work.  I  am 
thoroughly  aware  that  "By  their  fruits  ye  shall 
know  them."  At  the  same  time,  I  believe  that 
God  is  displeased,  greatly  displeased,  with  the 
way  we  have  of  estimating  churches. 

To  illustrate:  I  was  present  in  a  little  town 
in  another  state  one  day,  and  the  question  of 
the  most  important  and  most  beautiful  church 
in  the  city  was  up.  One  man  said:  "I  think 
that  church  over  on  the  hill  is  the  most  important 
church  because  there  are  three  millionaires  be- 
longing to  it." 

"What  about  its  prayer  meeting?"  I  said. 

"I  don't  know  whether  they  have  one  or  not," 
was  the  answer. 

"What  about  its  Sunday-school?  You  are  an 
officer  in  the  church  and  ought  to  know  that." 

"Well,"  he  replied,  "I  don't  think  much  of  a 
Sunday-school." 

He  did  not  know  anything  about  it  except  that 
it  had  three  millionaires  in  it.  He  was  a  type 
of  many  of  the  leading  men  of  the  churches  to- 
day. 

The  pulpit  itself  has  a  way  of  estimating  the 


Testimony  of  the  Church       4 1 

strength  and  power  and  position  of  the  church 
by  the  amount  of  wealth  and  culture  and  refine- 
ment that  it  has  in  its  membership. 

This  is  all  displeasing  to  the  Spirit  of  God. 
It  is  not  God's  way  of  estimating  the  Church. 
The  thing  that  God  cares  for  most  in  a  church 
is  its  faith ;  to  what  extent  can  that  people  bring 
things  to  pass  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven?  That 
is  the  thing  God  is  asking  of  the  Church,  and 
that  is  the  thing  that  He  would  bring  us  to  the 
point  of  appreciating;  the  faith  of  the  people; 
the  extent  of  its  grip  on  God.  That  is  what  God 
wants  of  the  Church  to-day,  and,  the  more  I 
see  of  the  work  of  the  Church  and  the  move- 
ments of  God  in  this  present  day  and  time,  the 
more  I  am  convinced  that  that  is  the  thing  God 
is  concerned  about. 

Culture  will  come;  refinement  will  come; 
wealth  will  come,  as  much  as  is  needed.  The  one 
thing  God  wants  is  the  right  kind  of  faith,  and 
following  that  will  come  everything  that  the 
Church  needs.  Oh,  that  we  might  see  the  unlim- 
ited possibilities  ahead  of  us  in  the  exercise  of 
faith.  Seeing  it,  we  will  grasp  it;  grasping  it, 
we  will  live  it,  and  when  we  do  we  will  become 
an  interrogation  point  to  the  world.  That  is  what 
God  wants.  Just  as  long  as  the  amount  of  money 
that  a  church  gives  can  be  explained,  just  that 
long  will  God  be  left  out  of  the  giving;  but  when 
the  church  gives  to  that  point  where  it  cannot 
be  explained,   then  somebody  is  going  to   say, 


42     Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

"Well,  I  do  not  understand  that."  And  while 
they  pause  to  think  about  it,  God's  Spirit  will  slip 
in  and  say,  **It  is  God."  The  same  thing  is  true 
with  reference  to  every  other  department  of  life. 

Now  then,  observe  the  second  point :  'That  he 
incessantly  makes  mention  of  them  in  his 
prayers."  Paul  prayed  for  the  Church  in  Rome. 
I  wonder  how  many  of  us  have  learned  to  emu- 
late Paul's  example  in  that?  How  many  of  us 
have  prayed  for  our  own  church?  I  am  afraid  a 
very  small  per  cent,  of  us.  We  pray,  perhaps, 
for  everything  in  the  world  but  our  church,  and 
that  perhaps  is  the  explanation  of  why  there  is 
oftentimes  so  much  criticism  of  the  Church. 
There  was  once  a  certain  person  who  became 
very  distasteful  to  me.  It  troubled  me.  It  came 
to  me  one  night  while  I  was  in  prayer  and  I 
began  to  pray  for  that  man,  and  God  took  every 
bit  of  feeling  about  him  out  of  my  heart.  I  saw 
just  as  many  flaws  in  that  life  as  I  saw  before, 
but  I  saw  good  that  I  did  not  see  before. 

Paul  prayed  for  the  Church  in  Rome.  Oh, 
God,  help  us  to  get  a  lesson  from  Paul!  Pray 
for  the  Church  at  home,  and  not  only  for  the 
Church  at  home,  but  all  churches.  Paul  was 
broad  enough  to  realize  that  he  had  a  connec- 
tion with  all  the  churches  in  the  world.  My 
brethren  and  sisters,  we  have  never  learned  the 
alphabet  in  the  prayer  life.  We  have  never  yet 
learned  how  to  pray. 

In  the  third  place,  "that  he  might  be  prospered 


Testimony  of  the  Church        43 

in  the  will  of  God  to  come  to  them."  "In  the 
will  of  God!"  Do  you  think  that  is  a  careless 
expression  just  to  fill  up  space?  There  is  some- 
thing doubly  significant  in  that  expression.  Paul 
did  not  want  to  go  unless  it  was  the  will  of  God. 
Paul  realized  that  God  had  a  plan  for  his  life, 
just  as  God  has  a  plan  for  every  life,  and  real- 
izing that,  he  could  not  afford  to  step  out  of 
God's  plan.  He  only  maintained  connection  as 
he  stayed  in  God's  plan  for  his  life. 

Have  you  never  stopped  to  think  that  you  too 
have  a  plan  laid  out  by  God  for  your  life?  If 
I  am  a  fanatic,  it  is  on  this  subject,  that  God 
has  a  plan  for  my  Hfe;  that  He  has  a  place  in 
this  big  world  for  me  to  fit  in;  a  place  that 
will  not  fit  anybody  else  in  the  world. 

Do  not  try  to  do  your  Christian  work  like 
somebody  else.  Try  to  know  how  God  would 
have  you  to  do  it,  and  when  you  have  a  clear 
interpretation  of  the  will  of  God,  do  what  God 
wants  done. 

In  the  fourth  place,  you  will  see  that  the  rea- 
son for  his  desire  to  come  to  them  was  not  that 
he  might  see  them  and  shake  hands  with  them, 
but  it  was  that  he  might  do  them  good,  "that 
they  might  be  established  in  their  faith";  and 
further,  "that  he  and  they  might  be  comforted 
in  each  other's  faith." 

See  the  great  Apostle  putting  himself  down  on 
a  common  level  with  the  Church  of  Rome,  say- 
ing, "We  can  strengthen  each  other's  faith,  and 


44  Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology- 
help  each  other  out."  Oh,  the  simpHcity  of  this 
mighty  man  of  God!  How  dependent  we  are 
one  upon  the  other!  There  is  no  man  taught 
of  God,  however  ignorant  he  may  be,  that  can- 
not teach  me,  and  no  man  feels  that  more  than 
I  do.  I  think  some  of  the  most  profound  truths 
that  I  have  ever  heard  have  come  from  some  of 
the  most  ignorant  men,  whose  minds  and  hearts 
have  been  opened  to  receive  the  Spirit,  and  upon 
whose  hearts  and  minds  the  Spirit  has  operated. 
Oh,  my  brother,  if  you  have  not  had  the  chance 
that  somebody  else  has  had,  do  not  grow  dis- 
encouraged ;  God  is  as  able  to  give  you  thoughts 
as  He  is  able  to  give  any  man,  however  wise  in 
the  wisdom  of  this  world. 

Now,  I  want  to  draw  a  few  practical  conclu- 
sions concerning  the  Church. 

First,  that  it  is  of  divine  origin. 

Second,  that  it  has  divine  conditions  for  mem- 
bership. 

Third,  it  imposes  divine  obligations  upon  its 
members. 

I  want  the  time  to  come  when  men  and  women 
will  realize  the  bigness  of  the  Church  of  Christ; 
that  it  is  God's  institution;  that  it  is  the  biggest 
organization  in  existence;  that  as  God's  institu- 
tion it  demands  of  us  that  we  shall  put  into  it 
our  best  endeavors,  and  when  our  people  realize 
in  deed  and  in  truth  all  this,  the  Church  will 
prosper  as  never  before. 


TESTIMONY  OF  THE  GOSPEL 
Ch.  I  :i6-i7 

I.  Paul— The  Man. 

II.  His  Declaration. 

Observe  under  this  head  (i)  For  (2)  The 
Gospel  of  Christ  (3)  Not  ashamed. 
in.  The  Reason  for  His  Declaration. 

Note  I.     The  desire — salvation. 

(a)    Salvation   from    the    penalty  of  sin 
(Rom.  5:10;  6:10-12). 

2.  The  extent  of  its  application — "Every  one 
that  believeth." 

3.  The  order  of  coming,  the  Jew  first  (John 
4:22;  Matt.  15:23). 

IV.  The  Purpose  of  the  Epistle. 
Note.  Definition  of  righteousness. 

V.  How  Brought  About. 

1.  By  faith  (Rom.  3:20-23). 

2.  By  imputation  of  Christ  (Phil.  3:9). 

3.  Impartation  (Rom.  8:2-6). 

VI.  Method  of  Its  Expression. 

1.  Confession  by  mouth  (Rom.  10:9-10). 

2.  Baptism  (Rom.  6:4,  5,  6;  Gal.  3:27;  Col. 

2:12). 

45 


46    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

3.  Lord's  Supper  (i  Cor.  10:23-26). 

4.  Righteous  Living  (Rom.  6:1-6). 

Paul  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  charac- 
ters, not  only  in  the  Bible,  but  in  history.  Paul, 
you  remember,  was  born  a  Jew,  and  at  the  same 
time,  born  in  a  Gentile  city,  the  city  of  Tarsus. 
Paul  associated  with  many  Gentiles.  He  learned 
their  ways  and  customs.  When  he  grew  up  to 
young  manhood,  he  was  sent  to  Jerusalem  for 
the  completion  of  his  education,  where  he  en- 
tered the  school  of  the  Jews  and  began  the  study 
of  the  language  and  customs  of  his  own  people, 
and  also  the  religion  of  his  people.  He  was  a 
pupil  of  the  famous  teacher  Gamaliel. 

With  this  short  introduction  of  the  Apostle 
Paul,  let  us  take  his  declaration — verse  16. 
Properly  translated,  the  declaration  should  read 
as  follows:  "For  I  am  not  ashamed  of  the  Gos- 
pel." Now,  that  is  a  strong  declaration,  and 
it  is  especially  strong  when  we  take  into  con- 
sideration the  fact  that  it  is  made  by  Paul,  who 
had  been  Saul  of  Tarsus,  a  great  scholar  among 
the  Jews,  and  an  officeholder  in  high  rank  in 
their  government. 

Since  his  conversion,  he  faces  the  world,  his 
old  associates,  his  companions  in  business,  reli- 
gion and  law,  and  declares  to  them,  and  to  the 
world  at  large,  that  he  is  not  ashamed  of  the 
Gospel. 

In  considering  Paul's  declaration,  I  want  you 
to  give  due  consideration  to  these  three  expres- 


Testimony  of  the  Gospel         47 

sions,  "for,"  "the  Gospel,"  and  "not  ashamed." 
To  get  the  force  and  significance  of  the  word 
"for,"  go  back  and  read  the  thirteenth  and 
fifteenth  verses.  "Now,  I  would  not  have  you 
ignorant,  brethren,  that  oftentimes  I  purposed  to 
come  unto  you  (but  was  let  hitherto),  that  I 
might  have  some  fruit  among  you  also,  even  as 
among  other  Gentiles.  So,  as  much  as  in  me  is,  I 
am  ready  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  you  that  are 
at  Rome  also  .  .  .  for  it  is  the  power  of 
God  unto  salvation  to  every  one  that  believeth; 
to  the  Jew  first,  and  also  to  the  Greek." 

As  much  as  to  say,  "While  I  have  been 
hindered  from  coming  to  you,  it  is  by  no  means 
because  I  am  ashamed  of  the  Gospel.  That  which 
has  hindered  me  is  something  other  than  that. 
For  I  want  to  assure  you  that  I  am  not  ashamed 
of  the  Gospel.  That  is  not  the  reason  I  have 
not  come.  That  is  not  the  reason  that  I  have 
not  lifted  up  my  voice  in  the  great  capital  city 
of  the  world." 

Then  take  the  expression,  "the  Gospel."  What 
does  this  mean  ?  It  means  the  "good  tidings"  con- 
tained in  what  we  call  the  four  Gospels — Mat- 
thew, Mark,  Luke,  and  John.  These  four  Gos- 
pels give  the  general  outline  of  the  whole  plan 
and  purpose  of  redemption  by  Jesus  Christ.  This 
was  the  thing  that  Paul  was  sent  to  declare.  Of 
course,  in  declaring  these  he  had  to  refer  back 
often  to  the  Old  Testament  prophecies  and 
teachings,  but  the  purpose  of  Paul's  preaching 


48   Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

was  to  set  forth  the  Gospel  as  "good  tidings," 
because  Jesus  Christ  was  the  center  around  which 
the  whole  of  this  new  system  of  religion  re- 
volves. 

The  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  is  not  in  any  sense 
an  overworked  Judaism.  It  is  a  distinct  and 
separate  thing  from  the  religion  of  the  Jews.  It 
is  in  no  sense  a  religion  of  works.  I  cannot 
make  that  too  emphatic,  because  so  many  peo- 
ple are  mistaken  with  respect  to  it. 

I  heard  a  man  not  long  ago,  a  distinguished 
theologian,  say  that  what  was  needed  for  the 
Jews  to-day  was  not  the  proclamation  of  the  Gos- 
pel of  Jesus  Christ  so  much  as  it  was  to  get  them 
to  eliminate  from  their  teaching  that  which  had 
crept  into  it  by  process  of  time,  which  was 
foreign  to  the  original  teaching  that  God  gave 
them.  In  other  words,  he  claims  that  the  Jew 
can  be  saved  by  simply  reworking  Judaism. 

We  cannot  be  too  careful  not  to  drop  into  that 
kind  of  error.  The  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  is 
a  separate,  distinct  religion.  It  came  to  take  the 
place  of  the  religion  of  the  Jews. 

Paul  speaks  of  the  Gospel  as  "good  news," 
"good  tidings."  And  it  is  good  news.  I  was 
thinking  when  I  was  studying  this  lesson,  "Oh, 
how  I  thank  God  for  the  day  when  the  Gospel 
light  flashed  into  my  heart!  Where  would  I  be 
now,  were  it  not  for  this  'good  news'  ?" 

Then  take  that  other  expression,  "not 
ashamed."    "For  I  am  not  ashamed  of  the  Gos- 


Testimony  of  the  Gospel         49 

pel."  Remember,  this  is  Paul  speaking — a  great 
man,  an  officeholder  of  high  rank  among  his  peo- 
ple. How  this  ought  to  bring  many  of  us  to 
our  knees  in  conviction,  because  we  have  tried 
to  hide  in  a  corner  and  not  let  our  light  shine  out. 

I  was  reading  recently  some  words  by  one  of 
the  greatest  teachers  of  the  Word  of  God.  He 
said :  "I  have  never  yet  seen  a  young  convert  that 
remained  firm  in  his  conviction  of  Jesus  Christ 
that  had  any  disposition  to  backslide,"  and  I  be- 
gan to  think;  and  I  don't  know  that  I  ever  did 
either.  Just  so  long  as  we  can  get  a  man  to 
openly  confess  Jesus  Christ,  there  is  no  danger 
of  backsliding. 

Take  a  man  who  is  addicted  to  strong  drink. 
He  walks  into  a  barroom,  and  says :  'T  want  a 
glass  of  whiskey.  I  am  a  Christian.  I  believe 
in  Jesus  Christ."  He  cannot  say  that.  H  he 
did  he  could  not  take  the  drink,  and  so  with 
other  forms  of  temptation.  H  we  could  only 
get  men  and  women  to  do  what  Paul  did  under 
all  circumstances,  boldly  confess  Jesus  Christ,  we 
would  stop  men  from  backsliding. 

Let  us  take  the  next  general  division.  The 
reason  for  his  declaration.  Verse  sixteen  says: 
"For  it  is  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  to 
every  one  that  believeth.  To  the  Jew  first,  and 
also  to  the  Greek."  Salvation  is  the  biggest  word 
in  the  English  language.  There  is  no  possible 
way  of  defining  it.  It  is  too  big.  It  is  a  word 
that  cannot  be  expressed  because  it  is  bigger  than 


50    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

anything  used  to  express  it.  In  this  particular 
case  the  Apostle  is  referring  to  salvation  from 
sin.    That  is  the  thing  that  he  is  looking  at  now. 

In  this  sense  salvation  is  used  to  save  from, 
first,  the  penalty  of  sin  (Rom.  8:i).  "There  is 
now  therefore  no  condemnation  to  them  that  are 
in  Christ  Jesus."  There  is  salvation,  saving  us 
from  the  penalty  of  sin.  In  addition,  take  John 
5  :25  and  Rom.  5  :g.  We  cannot  dwell  too  much 
upon  the  fact  that  the  race  of  Adam  since  the 
fall  of  man  has  been  under  the  curse  and  penalty 
of  sin.  There  is  where  every  man  is  to-day  who 
is  not  a  Christian.  It  does  not  take  any  Bible 
to  prove  that  man  is  a  depraved  being.  The  his- 
tory of  the  race  proves  it.  Our  own  experience 
proves  it.  There  is  not  a  man  in  the  world  who 
does  not  know  that  the  inclinations  of  the  natural 
man  are  toward  evil.  It  is  a  struggle  to  go  the 
other  way.  The  natural  tendency  is  toward  that 
which  is  evil.  That  is  true  of  the  race  every- 
where. By  reason  of  this  fact  the  penalty  is 
resting  over  him,  and  Jesus  Christ  comes  to  save 
men,  first,  from  the  penalty  of  this  sin. 

Do  I  address  a  man  who  is  not  saved?  If 
I  do,  let  me  say  to  you  that  you  are  now  under 
the  penalty  of  sin.  You  are  just  like  that  man 
who  has  been  tried  in  the  courts  and  found  guilty, 
and  is  awaiting  execution.  The  penalty  of  sin 
is  resting  over  you.  The  full  force  of  the  penalty 
you  have  not  realized  yet,  but  it  awaits  you. 

The  Gospel  has  come  to  save  you  from  the 


Testimony  of  the  Gospel         51 

penalty  of  sin.  That  is  the  first  thing  that  the 
Gospel  undertakes  to  do,  and  that  is  the  first 
thing  that  most  people  embrace  with  reference  to 
the  Gospel.  The  thing  that  brought  me  to  Jesus 
Christ  was,  first,  the  consciousness  in  my  own 
heart  of  the  fact  that  I  was  a  condemned  sinner, 
and  that  there  was  resting  over  my  head  the  aw- 
ful penalty  for  sin. 

The  next  thing  is  salvation  from  the  power 
of  sin.  Take  Romans  5:10  and  10:12.  First, 
from  the  penalty,  giving  us  life  and  liberty  and 
freedom,  and  second,  from  the  power.  Here  we 
come  to  deal  with  the  Christian  life.  This  does 
not  apply  to  the  unregenerate  man,  as  it  is  no 
promise  to  him  of  salvation  from  the  power  of 
sin.  When  a  man  has  accepted  Jesus  Christ,  he 
is  free  from  the  penalty  of  sin,  then  he  is  pre- 
pared to  appreciate  the  force  of  salvation  from 
the  power  of  sin,  and  I  thank  God  that  this  is 
just  as  true  as  the  first. 

I  hear  men  talking  like  this :  "Oh,  well,  I  am 
bound  to  sin.  We  are  not  perfect  in  this  life." 
The  man  who  says  that  does  not  follow  his  Bible. 
He  may  sin.  I  do  not  know  a  perfected  soul, 
but  the  Gospel,  appropriated  in  all  of  its  full- 
ness, does  promise  to  save  men  from  the  dominat- 
ing power  of  sin,  and  we  need  to  preach  it.  Be 
assured  of  the  fact  that  this  same  Gospel  that 
has  saved  you  from  the  penalty  of  sin  and  given 
you  liberty  and  life,  will  also  save  you  from  the 
dominating  power  of  sin  in  your  every-day  life. 


VI 

GOD'S  ATTITUDE  TO  SIN 

Ch.  1:18-3:20 

I.  Preliminary. — What     is     sin?       i    John 

5:14;  2  John  3:4.  God's  attitude  to  sin. 
"Wrath."  1:18.  Definition:  "Wrath,"  op- 
posite of  love. 

II.  Reasonableness  of  God's  Wrath. 
I.  His  law. 

2    Revelation  in  conscience. 

3.  Revelation  in  nature. 

4.  Their  conduct. 

(a)  Glorified  not  God. 

(b)  Gave  not  thanks. 

(c)  Vain  in  their  reasoning. 

(d)  Hearts  darkened. 

(e)  Idolatry. 

III.  The  Manner  of  His  Wrath. 

1.  Present. 

(a)  Hearts  unclean. 

(b)  According  to  works. 

(c)  Without  respect  to  persons. 

(d)  According  to  Paul's  Gospel. 

2.  Future. — Judged  by  God. 
(a)  According  to  truth. 

52 


God's  Attitude  to  Sin  53 

(b)  According  to  works. 

(c)  Without  respect  to  persons. 

(d)  According  to  Paul's  Gospel. 

What  is  sin  ?  There  are  two  definitions  of  sin. 
They  are  in  i  John.  The  first  is  in  i  John  3  4, 
"Sin  is  the  transgression  of  the  law."  The  sec- 
ond is  in  I  John  5:17,  "All  unrighteousness  is 
sin." 

"Sin  is  a  transgression  of  the  law."  The 
Revised  Version  translates  it,  "Sin  is  Law- 
lessness." It  is  a  disregard  of  law.  It  is 
disobedience  of  the  law.  Then  the  next  defi- 
nition, "all  unrighteousness  is  sin."  Keep  in  mind 
the  definition  of  "righteousness."  It  will  help  you 
to  see  the  nature  of  sin.  Under  this  definition, 
righteousness  is  failing  to  come  up  to  God's 
standard. 

There  are  a  great  many  people  who  think  that 
sin  is  doing  something  that  God  has  told  us  not 
to  do.  That  is  true,  but  it  is  not  all  of  sin.  It 
is  also  failing  to  do  what  God  has  commanded; 
failing  to  come  up  to  God's  standard. 

Righteousness  is  balancing  God.  You  have  seen 
the  children  at  play  on  the  See-Saw :  one  child 
on  one  side  and  another  on  the  other  of  equal 
weight,  each  one  balancing  the  other.  When  they 
balance  each  other,  there  is  perfect  harmony — 
an  easy  swing.  God  in  all  past  ages  demanded 
of  man  that  he  should  balance  Him;  that  he 
should  complement  Him,  so  that  there  might  be 
no  friction  between  heaven  and  earth.    But  man 


54    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

was  unable  to  balance  God,  so  Jesus  Christ  came, 
and  He,  being  God  Himself,  complemented  God, 
and  thus  an  easy  swing  between  earth  and  heaven 
was  established  through  Jesus  Christ. 

Now,  righteousness  is  just  that  balancing  of 
God.  Man  cannot  balance  God.  Deity  could 
only  be  complemented  by  Deity  himself,  other- 
wise God  would  not  be  God;  He  would  not  be 
just,  immaculate  and  pure,  spotless  and  holy.  In 
order  for  Him  to  be  balanced.  He  must  have 
one  on  the  other  side  just  as  holy,  as  immacu- 
late, as  sincere,  as  pure,  as  spotless  as  He  Him- 
self is. 

So  God  came  Himself  in  the  person  of  Jesus 
Christ  and  took  His  place  upon  our  end  of  the 
"See-Saw,"  and  through  Him  we  obtain  His 
righteousness  and  are  able  to  complement  Him. 
God's  demand  of  the  race  is  satisfied  through 
Christ  when  we  are  in  Him,  and  that  is  the  only 
way  we  can  satisfy  God,  so  that  without  Christ 
there  is  no  satisfaction  of  God. 

Through  Christ  Jesus  we  can  look  straight  into 
the  pure  eyes  of  the  Great,  Infinite,  and  Holy 
God.  Out  of  Jesus  Christ  we  have  no  standing 
whatever  in  His  pure  presence. 

All  failure  to  come  up  to  that  point  is  sin,  and 
all  violation  of  the  law  is  sin.  What  is  God's 
attitude  to  this  sin  of  lawlessness,  transgression, 
and  failure  to  come  up  to  God's  desire  for  holi- 
ness? You  will  observe  that  it  is  not  said  that 
the  wrath  of  God  is  revealed  against  man.    God 


God's  Attitude  to  Sin  55 

has  no  feeling  of  wrath  against  man.  His  wrath 
is  revealed  against  the  sin  of  man.  He  is  look- 
ing at  sin,  and  He  hates  sin,  and  the  wrath  of 
God  is  revealed  against  the  sin  of  man  and  not 
man  himself.  He  is  love  when  it  comes  to  His 
attitude  toward  man,  but  He  is  wrath  when  it 
comes  to  His  attitude  towards  sin,  and  hence  He 
has  gone  to  work  and  provided  a  way  of  escape 
from  sin. 

There  are  a  great  many  people  who  shrink 
from  the  idea  that  God  is  a  God  of  wrath.  They 
are  fond  of  saying  that  God  is  a  God  of  love. 
And  that  is  God's  normal  condition.  He  is  the 
very  embodiment  of  love.  God's  wrath  is  against 
that  which  is  abnormal.  Let  God  be  placed 
in  His  normal  condition,  and  He  is  love,  and 
everything  that  issues  from  Him  is  love.  If  man 
had  not  fallen  in  the  Garden  of  Eden  such  a 
thing  as  wrath  would  not  have  been  revealed. 
The  whole  fight  of  God,  from  the  time  that  Adam 
fell  in  the  Garden  of  Eden  until  Christ  hung  upon 
the  cross,  was  against  sin.  Love  would  flow  like 
the  stream  that  trickles  down  the  mountain  side 
if  it  were  not  for  sin,  and  wrath  is  revealed 
against  "all  ungodliness  and  unrighteousness  of 
man." 

Some  people  think  that  it  is  unreasonable  for 
God  thus  to  look  upon  sin.  The  reasonableness 
lies  in  the  fact  that  God  tried  man  by  provid- 
ing everything  that  was  necessary  to  overcome 
this  state  of  abnormality.     He  provided:     First, 


56     Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

law.  Man  violated  that.  Second,  God  provided 
instruction  in  his  inner  conscience,  and  man  went 
back  on  that.  Third,  instruction  with  reference 
to  nature,  and  he  went  back  on  that.  Then  man's 
conduct  itself  is  sufficient  to  justify  the  wrath 
of  God  against  his  doings. 

"The  wrath  of  God  is  revealed  against  all  un- 
godliness of  men,  because  that  which  may  be 
known  of  God  is  manifest  in  them ;  for  God  mani- 
fested it  unto  them.  For  the  invisible  things  of 
Him  since  the  creation  of  the  world  are  clearly 
seen,  being  perceived  through  the  things  that  are 
made." 

We  have  here  God  justifying  His  wrath  upon 
the  ground  of  His  revelation  of  law.  Then  there 
is  the  second  revelation  of  Himself  in  the  inner 
conscience  of  men,  that  which  God  has  revealed 
in  them;  for  God  manifested  Himself  to  them. 
You  will  understand  that  the  Apostle  is  speaking 
of  heathen  men  and  women,  who  had  never 
known  of  God.  He  is  setting  up  the  claim  that 
they  are  without  excuse  because,  though  they 
have  not  heard  of  God  and  have  not  had  the 
law  of  God,  they  have  had  God's  revelation  of 
Himself  in  their  inner  conscience.  He  has  mani- 
fested Himself  in  them,  and  then,  also,  because 
of  "The  invisible  things  of  Him  since  the  creation 
of  the  world  being  clearly  seen."  The  Apostle 
here  sets  up  the  second  plea  for  justifying  the 
wrath  of  God  upon  the  ground  that  God  has  given 
them  enough,  in  the  things  that  He  has  created 


God's  Attitude  to  Sin  57 

about  them,  the  visible  things,  enough  to  remind 
them  of  the  existence  of  the  invisible.  So  he 
argues,  ''they  are  without  excuse." 

Then,  take  their  conduct.  This  is  sufficient  to 
justify  God's  wrath,  and  when  coupled  with  His 
revelation,  it  more  than  justifies  the  wrath  of 
God,  because  that  ''knowing  God  they  glorify 
Him  not  as  God,  neither  give  thanks,  but  be- 
come vain  in  their  reasonings,  and  their  foolish 
heart  was  darkened.  Professing  themselves  to 
be  wise,  they  became  fools,  and  changed  the  glory 
of  the  incorruptible  God  for  the  likeness  of  an 
image  of  corruptible  man,  and  of  birds,  and  four- 
footed  beasts  and  creeping  things." 

There  are  five  things  here  specified  in  this  bill 
of  indictment.  First,  they  glorified  not  God.  Sec- 
ond, they  gave  no  thanks.  Third,  they  became 
vain  in  their  reasonings.  Fourth,  their  hearts 
became  darkened.  Fifth,  they  became  idolatrous. 
Note  that  he  starts  out  with  the  assertion  that 
they  knew  God.  They  might  deny  it,  but  they 
knew  Him.  They  knew  Him  by  the  revelation 
in  His  law.  The  Jews  knew  all  about  that.  At 
that  time  Jerusalem  was  largely  inhabited  by 
Jews,  and  Jews  formed  the  pillars  of  the  Church 
in  Rome.  It  was  through  the  efforts  of  the  Jews 
that  the  Church  in  Rome  was  established.  So 
they  had  the  revelation  of  God  in  His  law. 

Then,  those  who  had  not  heard  of  God  had 
had  the  revelation  of  God  in  their  consciences. 
Paul  does  not  stop  to  expound  conscience.     He 


58     Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

states  a  simple  fact  and  leaves  it  for  us  to  con- 
sider ourselves.  So  he  says  they  knew  God,  and 
yet  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  they  knew  God  they 
were  guilty  of  those  things  that  he  mentions. 
Note  the  gradation  of  it.  "They  glorified  not 
God."  They  knew  Him,  but  did  not  glorify  Him. 
Oh,  how  easy  for  us  to  forget  God!  I  have 
never  been  so  pessimistic  as  I  am  at  this 
minute  with  respect  to  the  existence  of  sin  in  the 
world,  and  the  vilest  sort  of  sin.  It  grows  out  of 
the  great  prosperous  wave  that  has  been  for  so 
long  a  time  sweeping  over  this  country. 

Failing  to  glorify  God,  see  the  next  step.  Of 
course,  they  ''neither  gave  thanks."  When  God 
slips  out  of  our  minds,  there  is  not  any  need  for 
thanks,  and  so  they  ceased  to  give  thanks.  To- 
day we  can  hardly  get  enough  people  together 
in  prayer  meeting  to  hold  down  the  benches.  A 
thankless  age  is  this  in  which  we  live.  God  has 
been  lost  sight  of.  Sin  is  on  the  rage  and  even 
God's  people  are  failing  to  give  thanks. 

Then  the  next  step:  "They  became  vain  in 
their  reasonings."  This  was  the  time  when  Rome 
lifted  her  proud  head  and  defied  the  world  with 
her  philosophy,  when  they  became  so  ambitious 
in  the  world  of  letters,  and  especially  in  the  world 
of  philosophy,  that  they  became  worshipers  of 
their  intellects,  and  during  that  period  developed 
some  of  the  most  gigantic  reasoners  that  the 
world  has  ever  seen,  and  they  became  wild  over 
the  reasoning  of  their  minds.     They  overlooked 


God's  Attitude  to  Sin  59 

God,  stopped  giving  thanks,  and  became  wor- 
shipers of  their  own  intellects. 

Is  this  not  true  of  us  to-day  ?  We  see  it  every- 
where. In  the  Sunday-school  class,  in  the  pulpit, 
in  the  demands  of  the  pew  upon  the  pulpit,  in 
our  theological  seminaries,  in  our  colleges  and 
universities.  The  world  seems  to  have  gone  wild 
after  the  reasonings  of  men.  But  men  are  not 
saved  by  philosophy. 

The  mind  itself  is  depraved.  When  Adam 
went  down,  he  went  down  in  mind,  body,  and 
soul,  and  the  only  way  by  which  the  mind  can 
be  redeemed  is  through  the  blood  of  the  atone- 
ment. I  do  not  care  anything  about  the  philoso- 
phy of  men,  unless  it  is  a  philosophy  that  has 
been  redeemed  by  Jesus  Christ. 

Then,  take  the  next  step:  "Their  hearts  were 
darkened."  When  they  lived  in  the  head,  they 
moved  out  of  the  heart.  When  man  moves  out 
of  the  heart  chamber  and  moves  into  the  head 
chamber,  there  is  not  anything  left  in  the  heart 
chamber,  and  a  vacuum  cannot  exist.  Something 
has  got  to  go  in  there,  and  the  devil  takes  up  his 
abode  and  that  heart  gets  filled  with  everything 
that  is  contrary  to  the  highest  demands,  so  that 
it  becomes  darkened. 

You  might  as  well  try  to  fly  to  the  sun  as  to 
appeal  to  the  heart  of  a  fellow  that  has  moved 
up  into  his  brain.  His  heart  has  become  dark- 
ened. His  heart  eyes  have  gone  out.  If  he  sees 
suffering  it  makes  no  impression.     That  senti- 


6o     Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

mental  side  of  his  nature  has  become  blurred, 
and  that  is  the  description  of  the  age  in  which 
we  live  to-day. 

And  then  comes  the  fifth  and  last  step — idola- 
try. There  is  no  other  place  to  land.  They  have 
either  got  to  go  back  and  re-state  their  theological 
position,  or  else  go  into  idolatry. 

There  are  many  people  that  are  in  lands  of 
idolatry  because  they  were  born  there,  but  there 
are  many  people  here  in  our  own  country  who 
might  as  well  be  there.  It  is  just  as  much  a 
species  of  idolatry  to  worship  the  parrot  or  horse, 
or  anything  else,  as  it  is  to  set  up  an  image  and 
worship  it.  They  allow  these  things  to  come  in 
and  take  the  place  of  God.  They  pay  more  at- 
tention to  these  things  than  they  do  to  God.  They 
are  more  careful  with  respect  to  things  of  this 
earth  than  to  those  things  that  pertain  to 
heaven. 

Look  for  a  moment  at  the  manner  in  which 
God's  wrath  reveals  itself.  "Where  God  gave 
them  up  in  the  lusts  of  their  hearts."  That  is 
not  God's  wrath.  That  is  the  revelation  of  God's 
wrath.  For,  after  all,  the  definition  of  wrath  is 
''the  opposite  of  love."  God  is  normally  love. 
The  opposite  of  that  is  wrath.  God  may  be  ex- 
pressing His  love  in  an  earthquake,  though  we 
are  not  able  to  see  it.  He  expresses  it  in  thou- 
sands of  ways,  and  we  want  to  see  just  how  He 
revealed  His  wrath  then. 

He  gave  them  up.    How  I  should  hate  to  feel 


God's  Attitude  to  Sin  6 1 

that  God  had  given  me  up,  or  had  given  my 
town  up,  or  had  given  my  race  up.  Have  you 
ever  stopped  to  think  of  what  it  would  mean  for 
God  to  take  His  hands  off  and  let  you  go  ac- 
cording to  the  natural  bent  of  life?  That  is  ex- 
actly what  God  did.    He  gave  the  race  up. 

Now,  in  what  particular  did  He  give  the  race 
up?  ''In  the  lusts  of  their  hearts  unto  unclean- 
ness."  That  is  how  God  did  it.  That  is  the  way 
He  revealed  His  wrath  for  the  time  being.  That 
is  the  way  He  revealed  Himself  to  them  in  the 
age  in  which  they  lived,  and  He  does  it  in  the 
age  in  which  we  live,  if  we  fail  to  avail  ourselves 
of  the  way  of  escape. 

There  are  four  things  here.  First,  that  God 
gave  them  up  in  their  hearts.  God  turned  their 
hearts  loose.  He  took  His  hands  off  and  said, 
"Go  on  and  love  everything  that  the  natural,  vile 
man  wants  to  love.  I  have  got  my  hands  off, 
and  you  can  go  now."  That  is  the  way  God 
revealed  His  wrath — by  turning  man  loose.  Man 
had  failed  to  avail  himself  of  the  remedy  for 
his  salvation.  God  had  tried  and  tried,  and  men 
had  wandered  off  purposely,  and  so  God  gave 
them  up,  and  their  hearts  became  darkened. 

Then  He  took  His  hands  off  their  bodies. 
After  that  He  took  His  hands  off  their  passions, 
and  that  awful  description  of  the  outcome  is  such 
that  I  cannot  comment  on  it.  And  then  God 
gave  them  up  unto  a  reprobate  mind.  What 
does  he  mean  by  a  reprobate  mind?    The  word 


62     Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

reprobate  comes  from  the  words  re,  pro,  and 
hare,  which  mean  this,  "rejection  after  a  second 
trial."  God  had  given  the  race  two  great  chances 
for  redemption,  and  the  race  had  failed.  First, 
they  refused  the  chance  of  law,  then  they  refused 
the  chance  in  revelation.  They  turned  their 
backs  on  both,  and  God  turned  them  loose.  He 
tells  us  the  results  of  having  a  reprobate  mind, 
"Being  filled  with  all  unrighteousness,  wicked- 
ness, covetousness,"  etc. 

My!  what  a  picture  that  is!  And  yet  that  is 
a  picture  of  the  race. 

Let  us  go  just  a  step  further  and  see  something 
of  the  manner  of  God's  wrath  revealed  in  the 
future.  We  have  been  considering  the  manner 
of  God's  wrath  revealed  for  them  at  the  pres- 
ent time.  Now  for  the  future  we  have  this: 
Judgment.  God  visits  His  wrath  upon  us  at  the 
present  time.  We  have  seen  the  manner  of  the 
visitation  of  His  wrath,  that  He  turns  loose  our 
hearts;  that  He  lets  them  run  wild;  turns  loose 
our  bodies,  turns  loose  our  passions,  and  gives 
us  over  to  the  natural  workings  of  a  reprobate 
mind.  For  the  future,  God  reserves  judgment. 
There  are  just  four  things  that  I  want  we  should 
see: 

First,  it  is  a  judgment  according  to  truth.  I 
remember  a  cartoon  I  once  saw  of  a  young 
preacher.  He  had  just  returned  from  a  theologi- 
cal seminary  with  his  theological  degree,  and  he 
was  making  his  first  sermon,  and  had  taken  for 


God's  Attitude  to  Sin  63 

his  subject,  "Truth."  On  one  side  of  him  was 
a  great  pile  of  books,  and  in  his  hand  a  pen. 
He  had  just  written  his  subject.  His  first  di- 
vision was,  "What  is  Truth  ?"  And  he  was  look- 
ing at  that  pile  of  books  to  find  the  answer  to 
that  question.  Just  over  him  was  an  angel,  hold- 
ing in  one  hand  a  Bible,  and  with  her  other  she 
was  pointing  to  it,  and  saying,  "Thy  word  is 
truth." 

We  are  to  be  judged  according  to  truth.  What 
is  truth  ?  The  truth  of  God  revealed  in  the  Bible. 
I  do  not  say  that  there  is  no  truth  in  the  works 
of  science,  for  there  is;  but  it  is  not  by  that 
truth  that  we  are  to  be  judged. 

The  Apostle  Paul  was  trying  to  make  them 
see  that  in  the  last  day  we  shall  be  judged  ac- 
cording to  the  Bible,  and  the  truth  of  God  in 
our  hearts. 

Then  you  will  see  that  it  is  a  judgment  ac- 
cording to  works.  They  are  to  be  judged  ac- 
cording to  what  they  have  done,  and  accord- 
ing to  what  they  have  not  done.  It  is  a  judg- 
ment without  respect  to  persons.  That  is  stated 
to  adjust  the  relationship  between  the  Jew  and 
the  Gentile.  It  is  a  judgment  according  to  the 
law  and  revelation,  whether  it  is  the  revela- 
tion of  the  law  to  the  Jew  or  to  the  Gentile. 
The  law  and  the  revelation,  whether  it  is  the 
revelation  of  God  in  the  law  or  the  revelation  of 
God  and  the  law  in  their  inner  consciences 
and  in  nature,  is  the  same  truth  provided  for  in 


64    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

the  word  of  God,  and  they  are  to  be  held  in 
rigid  judgment  by  it. 

What  about  the  heathen  to-day  that  do  not 
know  anything  about  the  Gospel.  They  have  got 
to  stand  the  test  of  the  truth.  The  heathen  to- 
day have  the  same  revelation  that  they  had  then 
in  their  inner  consciences.  They  have  something 
within  them  that  tells  them  of  a  standard  that 
they  are  to  live  up  to. 

Then,  you  will  see  that  it  is  a  judgment  ac- 
cording to  Paul  himself.  This  gives  me  such  a 
good  chance  to  say  what  I  want  to  say.  Some 
people  say  to  me,  ''Show  me  what  Jesus  said. 
Do  not  show  me  what  Paul  said."  Let  me  say 
that  the  words  of  Jesus  have  no  more  weight 
in  the  scripture  than  the  words  of  Paul.  Paul 
was  inspired  to  say  what  he  said  by  the  same 
Spirit  that  inspired  Jesus. 

The  last  thought  is  the  reiteration  of  the  uni- 
versality of  sin  and  the  insufficiency  of  the  law 
to  save,  and  all  that  you  need  to  do  is  to  read, 
"There  is  none  righteous,  no,  not  one." 

This  is  exactly  where  the  world  stood  at  the 
time  when  the  provision  for  the  world's  salva- 
tion culminated  in  the  crucifixion  of  Jesus. 
What  an  awful  picture !  How  black  and  hideous ! 
The  whole  world  in  sin,  and  not  one  in  the  great 
universe  of  God  that  did  good.  And  yet  people 
say,  "I  do  not  see  any  need  of  Christ.  I  believe 
that  all  that  religion  is,  is  doing  good  to  your 
fellow  man  and  living  right."     For  four  thou- 


God's  Attitude  to  Sin  65 

sand  years  God  had  been  searching  to  find  one 
good  man,  and  finally  wound  up  by  saying, 
'There  is  none  righteous,  no,  not  one."  Man 
failed  in  Eden.  He  failed  to  keep  the  law.  He 
failed  to  respond  to  the  dictates  of  his  inner  con- 
science; failed  to  see  Him  in  the  things  that 
He  had  made.  God  then  turned  him  loose  and 
he  went  to  the  bad. 

With  unbridled  hearts  they  loved  everything 
that  was  impure.  With  unbridled  passions  they 
went  worse  than  wild.  With  a  reprobate  mind 
they  had  put  themselves  on  a  plane  with  the 
brute.  And  the  world  at  large  is  right  there  to- 
day. You  need  not  talk  to  me  about  this  world 
getting  better.  Some  are  getting  better,  and  some 
are  getting  worse.  There  are  we  to-day.  Oh, 
that  hopeless  picture!  What  a  picture  of  cor- 
ruption Jesus  looked  down  on  when  He  started 
from  His  father's  throne  to  do  the  work  of 
human  redemption! 


VII 

GOD'S  PROVISION  FOR  SALVATION 

Ch.  3:21-5:11 

I.  The  Nature  of  Salvation. 

1.  Of  God. 

2.  Apart  from  the  Law. 

3.  Witnessed  by  the  Law  and  the  Prophets. 

II.  The  Application. 

1.  By  Faith. 

2.  In  Jesus  Christ. 

3.  Unto  All  that  Believe. 

III.  The  Method. 

1.  Justification. 

2.  Redemption." 

3.  Propitiation. 

IV.  The  Illustration. 

1.  Abraham. 

2.  David. 

V.  The  Results. 

1.  Peace. 

2.  Rejoicing  in  Hope. 

3.  Rejoicing  in  Tribulation. 

We   have    dealt   with   God's   attitude   to   sin, 
taking  up  the  hopeless  condition  of  the  race ;  that 
everything  that  could  be  tried  for  the  redemp- 
66 


God's  Provision  for  Salvation      67 

tion  of  the  race  had  been  tried,  and  man  had 
failed  at  every  point,  so  that  there  was  none  good, 
no  not  one.  We  now  take  up  the  other  side  of 
the  picture,  the  side  of  salvation,  and  we  find 
in  verse  21  the  nature  of  this  salvation,  and  it  is 
so  clearly  stated  that  it  hardly  needs  to  be  ex- 
pounded at  all.  "But  now  apart  from  the  law 
a  righteousness  of  God  hath  been  manifested,  be- 
ing witnessed  by  the  law  and  the  prophets ;  even 
the  righteousness  of  God  through  faith  in  Jesus 
Christ  unto  all  them  that  believe." 

You  see,  in  looking  at  the  nature  of  this  sal- 
vation, that  it  is,  first,  "of  God."  Please  bear 
in  mind  the  necessity  for  that  kind  of  salvation. 
The  necessity  for  it  grows  out  of  the  fact  that 
then,  as  to-day,  man  is  fond  of  working  out  for 
himself  a  theory  of  salvation,  a  theory  which 
suits  his  own  mind. 

There  are  those  who  are*  holding  to-day  to  sal- 
vation by  character.  They  hold  that  man  is  saved 
through  obedience  to  the  law ;  by  being  good,  and 
kind,  and  considerate,  and  honest,  and  just  in  his 
relation  to  his  fellow  man;  hence,  they  are 
preaching  a  Christless  salvation.  They  use 
Christ  only  as  a  type,  as  a  pattern  to  fashion 
their  lives  by. 

Then,  there  is  another  school  of  teachers, 
teaching  salvation  by  the  church;  that  all  that 
one  has  to  do  to  be  saved  is  to  come  into  the 
Church  and  subscribe  to  its  rules  and  regulations, 
and  to  go  through  with  its  ordinances. 


68  Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology- 
There  are  those  who  teach  salvation  by  con- 
science; that  all  one  has  to  do  is  to  so  live  as 
not  to  wound  his  conscience.  They  don't  see  that 
conscience  failed  in  the  Garden  of  Eden,  just  as 
all  else  failed. 

Then,  there  are  those  who  are  teaching  salva- 
tion through  the  worship  of  various  idols  and 
images ;  heathen,  we  call  them.  And  so  we  might 
go  on,  naming  various  schools  of  teachers  who 
teach  salvation. 

If  you  will  take  the  pains  to  look  into  it,  you 
will  find  that  the  biggest  word  in  any  language, 
among  any  people  on  this  earth,  is  the  word  sal- 
vation. It  may  be  approached  from  different 
standpoints ;  it  may  be  approached  with  different 
meanings  and  different  understandings  with  dif- 
ferent people,  but  after  all,  the  one  great  thought 
of  the  world  is  salvation — how  to  get  men  saved. 
Saved  from  what  we  call  sin;  saved  from  bad 
living  and  made  more  righteous  and  holy  in 
life  and  conduct,  in  thought  and  deportment. 

All  this  is  the  one  great  thought  of  the  world. 
In  some  sections  of  the  world  they  are  trying 
to  solve  the  great  salvation  problem  by  educa- 
tion, and  in  other  sections  they  are  trying  it  by 
legal  processes.  In  one  way  or  another,  human- 
ity everywhere  is  giving  itself  to  what  we  call 
salvation;  it  has  always  been  so,  and  men  have 
always  been  at  work  upon  it. 

The  Apostle  Paul,  in  writing  this  Epistle,  calls 
attention  to  the  fact  that  he,  as  the  ambassador 


God's  Provision  for  Salvation     69 

of  God,  is  holding  up  to  them  a  salvation  that  is 
of  God ;  God  is  its  author,  not  man ;  and  that 
is  the  salvation  we  need  to-day,  and  that  is  the 
salvation  we  are  here  to  teach,  and  that  is  the  sal- 
vation that  the  Church  has  got  to  stand  for.  The 
time  has  come  when  the  cry  of  the  Church  must 
be  "Back  to  God."  See  what  God  has  said  about 
this,  and  if  God  has  said,  then  that  is  enough. 

Then  you  will  see  in  the  second  place  that  it 
is  "apart  from  the  law."  You  are  not  to  under- 
stand that  this  is  intended  to  abrogate  law.  He 
never  could  abrogate  law.  He  came  to  fulfill  the 
law ;  the  salvation  of  God  is  apart  from  the  law 
only  in  this  sense,  that  it  takes  hold  of  man  at 
the  point  where  law  failed  to  touch  him. 

In  other  words,  the  salvation  of  God  is  not  a 
salvation  that  can  be  obtained  by  one  through 
obedience  to  certain  legal  requirements,  but  the 
law  of  God  is  to  be  to  the  man  who  is  saved  by 
the  salvation  of  God  the  outcome  of  his  salvation. 

Let  us  thoroughly  understand  what  the  Apos- 
tle Paul  means  here,  because  if  there  is  one  weak 
point  in  our  Church  system,  it  is  this  point. 
There  is  the  biggest  mistaken  conception  imagi- 
nable in  the  minds  of  the  world  with  respect  to 
what  salvation  is.  It  is  strange  to  me  after  all 
the  teaching  for  all  the  past  ages  of  the  Church, 
that  there  should  be  such  a  vast  amount  of  ig- 
norance about  this. 

The  Apostle  Paul  says,  "This  salvation  that 
is  of  God  is  not  a  salvation  that  can  be  obtained 


"JO    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

by  obeying  the  requirements  of  the  law,  lest  you 
should  have  something  to  boast  of ;  but  it  is  a  sal- 
vation apart  from  the  law ;  it  is  a  salvation  abso- 
lutely independent  of  the  law.  It  is  not  some- 
thing that  you  can  work  out,  or  work  yourself 
up  to,  but  something  that  you  accept  by  faith, 
and  then  the  law  is  the  outworking  of  the  salva- 
tion principle  that  is  within  by  faith." 

Some  people  imagine  that  because  of  this  state- 
ment, they  are  at  liberty  to  go  right  on  and  vio- 
late the  law  as  they  please.  But  that  is  not  the 
teaching  of  the  Apostle.  It  is  not  apart  from 
the  law  in  that  sense.  There  is  not  a  single  re- 
quirement of  the  ten  commandments  that  the 
Apostle  Paul  does  not  intend  to  incorporate  into 
the  Christian's  life.  You  cannot  violate  the  Sat)- 
bath  because  you  have  become  a  Christian;  you 
cannot  kill  because  you  have  have  become  a 
Christian;  you  cannot  commit  adultery  because 
you  have  become  a  Christian.  There  is  not  one 
single  requirement  that  is  not  binding  upon  the 
Christian,  but  the  whole  decalogue  does  not  lead 
one  step  toward  becoming  a  Christian,  for  salva- 
tion is  apart  from  the  law. 

The  law  is  binding  on  you  only  in  the  sense 
that  when  you  are  saved  you  are  mastered  by 
Christ,  and  everything  that  is  right,  Jesus  Christ, 
as  your  master,  binds  upon  you  to  be  done. 

I  am  afraid  of  those  people  who  are  forever 
speaking  in  a  disrespectful  manner  concerning  the 
law.    The  Apostle  Paul  does  not  mean  to  make 


God's  Provision  for  Salvation     71 

any  reflection  at  all  upon  the  law.  What  he  is 
trying  to  do  is  to  impress  upon  them  in  this  new 
system  of  religion  that  the  law  is  not  the  means 
by  which  they  are  to  be  saved ;  that  the  law  is  the 
outcome  of  their  having  been  saved;  that  when 
a  man  is  saved  the  law  is  his  delight;  it  will 
not  be  a  thing  forced  upon  him,  it  will  be  the 
natural  order  of  life. 

In  the  next  place,  this  salvation  is  "witnessed 
by  the  law  and  the  prophets."  Look  for  a  mo- 
ment at  the  Transfiguration.  There  we  have  ex- 
actly what  the  Apostle  is  talking  about  in  a  very 
striking  manner.  There  Jesus  on  the  Mount  of 
Transfiguration  is  visited  by  the  law  and  the 
prophets  in  the  persons  of  Moses  and  Elias; 
Moses  representing  the  law  and  Elias  represent- 
ing the  prophets ;  Christ  representing  the  Gospel, 
which  represents  this  salvation  that  is  apart  from 
the  law. 

What  is  the  purpose  of  Moses  and  Elias  there  ? 
They  have  been  dead  centuries.  They  have  left 
their  record — their  inspired  testimony.  Why 
should  they  come?  There  is  a  very  significant 
reason.  They  are  there  to  give  their  testimony 
fresh  from  the  throne  concerning  this  salvation; 
this  salvation  of  God. 

If  you  could  have  been  there  and  asked  Moses 
what  he  was  there  for,  you  would  have  heard 
him  say,  *T  have  come  here  to  give  my  indorse- 
ment of  this  salvation."  If  you  could  have  asked 
Elias,  "What  are  you  here  for?"  he  would  have 


72    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology- 
said,  "I  am  here  that  I  may  lend  my  testimony 
to  this  new  salvation;  to  this  salvation  which  is 
apart  from  the  law." 

Moses  and  Elias  that  day  faded  into  utter  in- 
significance by  the  side  of  Jesus,  for  it  was  the 
Disciples  who  said,  under  the  inspiration  of  all 
this  glory,  when  Jesus  stood  in  the  presence  of 
those  two  heavenly  visitors,  "This  is  a  good 
place  to  be !  Let  us  build  here  three  tabernacles ; 
one  for  Jesus,  and  one  for  Moses,  and  one  for 
Elias,"  and  I  am  not  surprised  that  they  let  their 
enthusiasm  get  the  better  of  them.  I  should  have 
done  the  same  thing.  Oh,  the  glory  of  that  scene  ! 
I  expect  when  I  get  to  heaven  I  shall  say  more 
extravagant  and  more  foolish  things  than  that. 
I  expect  when  I  get  the  first  glimpse  of  the  white 
throne  what  I  say  will  be  so  far  in  excess  of  the 
extravagance  of  that  as  that  it  will  fade 
away. 

"Let  us  build  here  three  tabernacles;  one  for 
Thee,  and  one  for  Moses  and  one  for  Elias.  Let 
us  stay  here  and  worship."  Then  there  came  a 
voice  from  heaven,  saying:  "This  is  my  beloved 
Son,  hear  ye  Him."  Moses  and  Elias  have  had 
their  day.  The  law  had  its  day.  The  prophets 
had  their  day;  but  these  are  all  dead.  We  are 
living  in  a  new  order.  We  are  living  at  a  time 
when  men  are  saved  in  a  different  way. 

Then,  take  the  next  step. 

We  have  been  speaking  about  the  salvation 
that  is  of  God,  and  that  is  apart  from  the  law,  and 


God*s  Provision  for  Salvation     73 

that  is  witnessed  by  the  law  and  the  prophets. 
Now,  the  question  comes,  How  is  one  to  receive 
this  salvation  of  God?  If  not  by  the  law,  then 
how? 

Now,  the  Apostle  answers  this  question  very 
beautifully  in  the  226.  and  23d  verses.  He  says 
we  are  to  receive  it  *'by  faith."  Now,  listen. 
There  is  nothing  new  in  this  statement  of  the 
Apostle.  When  he  speaks  of  salvation  by  faith, 
unless  he  goes  further,  which  he  does,  he  does  not 
state  anything  that  is  at  all  new. 

The  fact  is,  no  system  of  salvation  is  without 
faith.  Take,  for  instance,  the  man  who  believes 
in  salvation  by  character ;  that  all  that  is  required 
of  one  is  to  live  right.  Is  that  without  faith  ?  By 
no  means.  It  is  salvation  by  faith,  but  the  faith 
in  this  instance  is  in  the  man. 

Take  the  man  who  believes  in  salvation  by  the 
Church.  Is  that  a  salvation  without  faith?  By 
no  means.  It  is  a  salvation  of  faith,  but  the 
faith  in  that  instance  is  in  the  Church,  and  in  the 
ordinances  of  the  Church. 

Take  the  man  who  believes  in  salvation  by  the 
worship  of  idols.  Is  that  salvation  without  faith  ? 
By  no  means.  I  was  speaking  to  a  missionary 
from  China  and  said,  *'Are  those  heathen  with- 
out faith?"  "Oh,  no,"  was  the  answer,  "they 
have  a  very  strong  faith ;  very  much  stronger  than 
many  Christians.  They  have  such  a  strong  faith 
that  they  can  accept  a  very  mystical  lot  of  non- 
sense and  believe  that  there  is  salvation  wrapped 


74    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

up  in  it."  And  so  it  is  with  respect  to  every 
system  of  salvation.  There  is  no  system  that  is 
without  faith. 

So,  I  say  again,  if  the  Apostle  had  gone  no 
further  than  that,  he  would  have  stated  nothing 
new,  but,  thank  God!  he  went  further  than  that. 
He  says  that  this  salvation  is  by  faith  "in  Jesus 
Christ."    That  is  the  difference. 

My  brother,  faith  in  Christ  as  an  abstract 
thing  is  not  different  from  faith  in  business,  or  in 
the  promise  of  any  man,  so  far  as  the  abstract 
thing  in  itself  is  concerned.  But  faith  in  the  sense 
of  the  salvation  of  God  is  a  faith  that  grips  Jesus 
Christ;  Christ  is  the  object  of  the  faith  of  fhe 
man  who  is  saved.  Christian  workers,  think 
about  that.  It  will  help  you  explain  the  way  of 
life. 

You  know  we  have  mystified  faith  until  sen- 
sible people  are  asking,  "What  do  you  mean  by 
faith?"  I  have  seen  strong  minds  puzzled  over 
the  question. 

Give  a  man  credit  for  what  he  has  got.  Every 
man  has  got  faith  in  something.  Show  him  that 
he  has  got  faith,  and  then  try  to  turn  his  faith 
to  Jesus  Christ. 

Faith  implies  three  things:  First,  knowledge; 
second,  assent;  and  third,  trust. 

First,  knowledge.  No  man  can  have  faith  until 
he  knows.  You  cannot  expect  men  to  exercise 
faith  in  a  proposition  that  they  have  never  heard 
anything  about. 


God's  Provision  for  Salvation      75 

Second,  assent — giving  assent  in  the  mind  to 
the  proposition. 

Third,  trust.  After  assent  always  comes  trust. 
When  you  come  to  deal  with  salvation,  it  is  first, 
a  knowledge  of  Christ;  second,  assent  to  Christ, 
and  third,  trust  in  Christ.    That  is  all  salvation  is. 

Take  now  the  method  of  salvation: 

Three  pivot  words:  i.  Justification.  2.  Re- 
demption.    3.  Propitiation. 

These  three  words  are  the  great  pivot  words 
of  salvation.  How  many  a  theological  battle  has 
been  fought  over  them.  These  three  words,  if 
understood  properly,  will  make  theologians  out 
of  every  one  of  us,  because  around  them  hangs 
the  whole  question  of  redemption. 

Take  the  first  word,  "justification."  We  shall 
find  the  word  used  over  and  over  again.  It  is 
used  thirty-nine  times  in  the  New  Testament, 
twenty-seven  times  in  Paul's  writings ;  eight  times 
in  the  synoptists,  three  times  in  James,  and  once 
in  the  Apocalypse. 

What  does  it  mean?  Every  one  of  you  that 
has  been  saved  has  been  justified,  and  you  are 
justified  now,  and  you  will  be  justified  when  you 
stand  before  the  judgment. 

Justification  is  a  very  different  word  from  par- 
don. Pardon  is  a  different  word  and  is  by  no 
means  to  be  thought  of  when  we  think  of  justi- 
fication. Pardon  simply  frees  one  from  the 
penalty  of  crime  or  guilt.  Justification  deals  with 
the  character  of  the  criminal  or  guilty  one  and 


jb    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

sets  him  free.  Pardon  simply  removes  the 
penalty  for  the  crime,  but  does  not  touch  the 
criminal.  He  is  just  the  same  criminal  that  he 
was  before.  Suppose  he  is  a  thief  and  is  proven 
to  be  a  thief,  and  afterwards  the  law  pardons 
him.  The  law  does  not  change  the  fact  that  he 
was  a  thief,  but  it  relieves  him  of  the  penalty 
of  the  crime. 

Justification  is  a  stronger  word.  It  deals  both 
with  the  condition  of  the  criminal  and  with  the 
crime.  Justification  deals  with  the  character.  It 
sets  the  character  of  the  individual  right,  as  well 
as  pardons  him  of  the  crime  that  he  has  com- 
mitted. 

Only  God  can  do  that;  the  law  cannot  do  it. 
No  statute  that  man  can  enact  can  do  it;  no 
act  of  any  man  can  do  it.  He  may  be  a  Czar 
of  Czars,  and  yet  he  cannot  go  back  and  undo 
a  thing  that  has  been  done.  He  can  lift  the 
penalty,  but  he  cannot  change  the  character  of 
the  guilty  man;  but  justification  does.  It  sets 
the  criminal  himself  right  as  well  as  wipes  out  his 
penalty. 

Now  for  the  next  word — "redemption."  Justi- 
fication does  not  embrace  redemption.  Redemp- 
tion is  part  of  the  process  by  which  justification 
takes  place.  The  word  redemption  means  "re- 
covery by  the  payment  of  a  price." 

Redemption  is  an  entirely  different  word  from 
ransom,  just  as  pardon  is  a  different  word  from 
justification.     They  mean  very  different  things, 


God's  Provision  for  Salvation     77 

and  yet  you  will  find  people  using  them  as  if 
they  meant  the  same  thing. 

Redemption  is  the  result  of  the  work  of  ran- 
som. Jesus  Christ  Himself  is  the  ransom  of  the 
sinner;  redemption  is  the  result  of  the  ransom 
work  of  Jesus  Christ.  They  are,  therefore,  not 
interchangeable  terms.  They  do  not  mean  the 
same  thing,  literally  or  theologically.  Redemp- 
tion is  the  result  of  a  price  that  has  been 
paid. 

God  owns  the  entire  race  of  the  world  to-day. 
We  are  God's  by  ownership,  just  as  much  as  my 
umbrella  is  still  mine  by  ownership.  I  own  it  be- 
cause I  paid  the  price  for  it.  It  is  my  umbrella, 
and  yet  I  do  not  know  where  it  is,  I  never  ex- 
pect to  see  it  again,  because  somebody  else  pos- 
sesses it. 

Now,  God  owns  the  race,  but  He  does  not  pos- 
sess it.  The  devil  possesses  the  race,  but  it  is 
God's.  God  made  the  race  and  God  bought  the 
race.  The  most  of  us  are  simply  used  as  gar- 
ments to  clothe  the  devil  with;  to  shelter  him 
from  the  storm. 

God  has  bought  the  race  back.  He  made  it. 
The  devil  got  it.  God  came  and  redeemed  it  by 
a  price.  That  is  what  redemption  means.  We 
shall  see  what  that  price  is.  All  this  is  pre- 
liminary to  the  work  of  justification,  and  the 
Apostle  Paul  seems  to  start  out  with  justification 
and  leads  into  the  preliminary  work. 

The  third  word  is  "propitiation."    What  does 


yS    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

it  mean  ?  It  is  a  hard  word  to  define.  The  word 
itself  means  "reconcihation  by  atonement." 
When  you  get  to  the  origin  of  the  word,  you  find 
that  it  means  to  cover  sin  with  blood.  It  is  never 
used  without  that  meaning.  There  is  not  a  use 
of  the  word  in  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures  in 
which  the  idea  of  blood  is  not  involved,  so  we  see 
from  that  that  there  is  no  reconciliation  without 
blood. 

There  are  kindred  words,  words  that  perhaps 
some  teachers  have  fallen  upon  with  a  different 
meaning,  but  the  word  from  which  this  comes  is 
never  used  in  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures  ex- 
cept in  connection  with  blood. 

Let  us  see  how  this  salvation  "of  God,  apart 
from  the  law,  witnessed  by  the  law  and  the 
prophets,  which  is  applied  by  faith  in  Jesus  Christ 
unto  all  them  that  believe,"  is  brought  about? 
It  is  done  by  our  being  justified,  by  our  being 
made  right  and  having  our  sins  pardoned,  by  hav- 
ing been  redeemed  or  bought  back  by  the  recon- 
ciliation of  the  atoning  blood  of  Jesus  Christ. 
That  is  how. 

There  is  no  salvation  of  God  that  is  not  brought 
about  by  faith  in  Christ  through  the  atoning 
blood  that  He  shed  on  Calvary. 

Again,  let  me  say,  justification  is  making  right 
in  character  and  in  conduct;  redemption,  bought 
with  a  price;  propitiation,  covering  with  the 
blood.  When  we  have  had  these  words  grip  us, 
we  have  made  a  great  step  forward  in  the  direc- 


God's  Provision  for  Salvation     79 

tion  of  comprehending  the  whole  scheme  of  salva- 
tion. 

Note  in  passing  that  the  fourth  chapter  deals 
with  Abraham  and  David  as  illustrations  of  the 
whole  question  of  salvation. 

The  fifth  chapter  deals  with  the  Results  of 
Salvation. 

1.  Peace. 

2.  Joy,  or  rejoicing  in  hope. 

3.  Rejoicing  in  tribulation. 

If  we  are  saved,  we  have  been  justified.  We 
have  been  redeemed.  We  have  been  reconciled 
with  the  atonement.  A  propitiation  has  been 
made.  Now,  what  is  the  outcome  ?  Since  this  is 
true  we  are  ready  for  the  fifth  chapter.  "Be- 
ing, therefore,  justified  by  faith,  let  us  have  peace 
with  God  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  through 
whom  also  we  have  had  our  access  by  faith  unto 
this  grace  wherein  we  stand." 

First,  "let  us  have  peace  with  God."  Lots 
of  people  have  no  peace,  no  happiness  in  their 
souls,  not  realizing  that  when  we  are  His,  when 
we  have  submitted  to  Him,  and  believe  in  Him, 
that  there  are  not  enough  devils  in  hell  to  keep  us 
out  of  heaven.  I  know  I  am  saved.  I  have  got 
the  biggest  thing  on  earth.  I  have  been  justified 
and  I  have  been  redeemed.  I  have  been  recon- 
ciled, not  through  my  goodness,  but  through  His 
atoning  merit.  I  have  all  this;  therefore  I  am 
happy.    I  have  got  peace. 

Then,  let  us  "rejoice  in  hope."    We  have  peace 


8o    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

in  our  souls.  Now  let  us  rejoice  in  the  hope 
of  His  glory.  And  let  us  rejoice  in  our  tribula- 
tions. What  does  the  word  tribulation  mean? 
It  comes  from  the  Latin  word  "tribulum,"  and 
that  means  a  "threshing  machine."  You  know 
what  a  threshing  machine  was  in  those  days. 
They  put  the  wheat  down  and  cut  a  pole  and 
took  hold  of  the  small  end  of  it  and  beat  the 
wheat  out  of  the  chaff. 

Listen.  The  Apostle  Paul  says,  "now  you  have 
got  salvation,  have  peace.  Peace  with  God. 
Peace  in  your  soul.  Rejoice  in  hope.  Rejoice  in 
your  tribulation.  Rejoice  in  your  threshing  ma- 
chine." 

The  time  will  come  when  the  Lord  will  lay  you 
down  and  beat  the  wheat  out  of  the  chaff.  He 
has  had  lots  of  us  down  there  and  has  kept  some 
of  us  down  there  for  a  long  time. 

Rejoice  in  tribulation,  it  does  not  make  any 
difference  what  it  is,  only  remember  that  no  mat- 
ter how  hard  it  is.  He  is  getting  rid  of  the  chaff 
so  that  He  may  have  the  grain  to  use.  That 
is  the  only  part  that  is  worth  having.  The  chaff 
of  human  life  is  just  like  the  chaff  in  the  wheat. 
The  only  thing  that  is  worth  anything  is  what  is 
left  after  God  beats  the  chaff  away. 

"'Twas  for  my  sins  my  dearest  Lord 
Hung  on  the  cursed  tree. 
And  groaned  away  His  dying  life, 
For  thee,  my  soul,  for  thee. 


God's  Provision  for  Salvation     8i 

"Oh,  how  I  hate  those  lusts  of  mine 
That  crucified  my  Lord ! 
Those  sins  that  pierced  and  nailed  His  flesh 
Fast  to  the  fatal  wood. 

"Yes,  my  Redeemer,  they  shall  die, 
My  heart  hath  so  decreed ; 
Nor  will  I  spare  the  guilty  things 
That  made  my  Saviour  bleed." 


VIII 

RECONCILIATION     AND     RIGHTEOUS- 
NESS 

Ch.  5:9-21 

I.  A    Re-statement    of    the  Doctrine    of 

Justification.  • 

1.  Definition  of  justification. 

2.  How  used. 

II.  Reconciliation. 

1.  Definition  of  reconciliation. 

2.  How  brought  about. 

(a)  Movement  of  God  toward  man. 

(b)  Movement  of  man  toward  God. 

(c)  A  consequent  change  in  man. 

(d)  Reconcihation. 

III.  Necessity  of  It — Adam's  Sin. 

1.  All  in  sin. 

2.  All  in  death. 

3.  All  in  judgment. 

IV.  Ground    of    It — Christ's    Righteous- 
ness. 

It  seems  that  the  Apostle  Paul  recognized  what 
every  one  of  us  must  recognize  in  studying  this 
book,  and  that  is  that  there  is  a  very  great  neces- 
sity for  a  thorough  and  comprehensive  under- 
82 


Reconciliation  and  Righteousness    83 

standing  of  what  is  involved  in  the  word  *'justi- 
fication."  1  am  sure  in  deahng  with  this  word 
that  we  are  deahng  with  one  of  the  greatest 
words  in  Paul's  writings.  He  so  regards  it.  You 
can  see  it  by  the  frequent  use  he  makes  of  it  and 
the  various  meanings  and  applications  which  he 
gives  to  it. 

Just  as  Paul  found  it  necessary  to  frequently 
repeat  this  word  and  consider  this  doctrine,  so  we 
find  the  necessity  among  us  to-day.  It  is  the 
one  great  doctrine  about  which  there  is  more 
ignorance  and  more  necessity  for  understanding 
than  any  other  that  we  have  to  consider. 

What  is  the  meaning  of  the  word  ?  The  word 
itself  means  primarily  "to  make  right,"  and  sec- 
ondarily "to  acquit."  In  order  that  you  may  have 
a  proper  conception  of  the  word  I  will  give  you 
another  meaning  which  it  seems  to  have :  not  only 
"to  make  right,"  but  "to  make  right  to  the  point 
of  thinking  right,"  thus  showing  us  that  the  work 
itself  concerns  not  simply  the  adjustment  of  the 
wrong,  but  the  adjustment  of  the  wrong  in  such 
a  way  as  to  put  into  the  mind  of  the  wrongdoer 
another  design.  In  that  sense  it  seems  to  involve 
the  whole  of  man — his  mind  and  his  heart. 

Then,  in  the  secondary  sense,  is  the  idea  of 
acquittal.  We  understand  what  it  is  to  acquit 
one  of  a  wrong.  Now,  in  the  theological  sense, 
the  word  justification  means  to  comprehend  both 
the  idea  of  "acquittal,"  and  the  idea  of  "making 
right." 


84    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

Let  us  look  at  it.  The  idea  of  acquittal  and  the 
idea  of  making  right.  A  sinner  presents  him- 
self to  Jesus  Christ  guilty,  undone,  and  absolutely 
hopeless.  No  power  in  himself  to  obtain  a  single 
solitary  thing,  and  on  recognizing  his  powerless, 
hopeless,  and  helpless  state,  he  presents  himself 
to  Jesus  Christ. 

In  presenting  himself,  two  things  take  place: 
In  the  first  place  he  is  justified  by  acq^iittal,  and 
in  the  next  place  he  is  justified  by  being  made 
right  himself.  He  has  his  sins  covered  by  the 
application  of  the  blood,  blotting  them  entirely 
out  of  sight,  so  that,  so  far  as  the  sin  for  which 
he  stands  judged  before  the  bar  of  God  as  guilty, 
is  concerned,  in  the  act  of  justification  that  sin  is 
covered,  so  that  as  God  looks  upon  the  sinner 
He  finds  him  not  in  the  state  that  He  once  found 
him.  He  is  made  right  in  so  far  as  the  sin  for 
which  he  was  condemned  is  concerned. 

But  somebody  says,  "Isn't  that  equivalent  to 
the  work  of  regeneration  ?"  No,  the  work  of  re- 
generation has  not  yet  taken  place.  In  the  work 
of  justification,  the  man  is  righted  so  far  as  the 
sin  for  which  he  is  condemned  is  concerned,  be- 
cause it  is  covered  up,  but  in  the  work  of  regen- 
eration there  is  the  impartation  of  another  life 
from  above,  which  is  of  an  entirely  different 
character,  and  it  is  a  life  that  hates  sin;  that 
loathes  sin;  that  wants  to  live  without  sin;  that 
turns  from  sin. 

The  work  of  regeneration  is  different  from  the 


Reconciliation  and  Righteousness   85 

work  of  justification  in  that  it  gives  to  the  man 
an  entirely  new  nature.  The  things  that  he  once 
loved,  he  now  hates.  It  is  the  impartation  of  a 
new  life,  a  life  from  above,  even  the  life  of 
God. 

Somebody  says,  "Isn't  that  equivalent  to  the 
work  of  sanctification  ?"  No,  it  is  not.  Sancti- 
fication  takes  the  justified  and  regenerated  soul, 
that  soul  which  has  had  its  sin  covered  up  and 
has  been  reconciled  to  God,  and  sets  that  soul 
apart  to  service  that  is  wholly  acceptable  to  God 
in  its  everyday  life.  That  is  the  work  of  sancti- 
fication. 

There  is  nothing  that  can  take  place  in  the  fu- 
ture life  of  the  regenerate  soul  that  cleanses  it 
any  more  perfectly  than  it  is  cleansed  in  the  work 
of  regeneration,  for  it  is  as  pure  and  as  clean 
and  as  spotless  as  a  soul  can  be  made,  and  hence 
those  people  that  teach  that  there  must  be  some 
future  work  of  sanctification  to  clear  it  of  dross 
left  on  hand  at  the  time  of  regeneration  are  teach- 
ing that  which  is  not  taught  in  the  Scriptures. 

From  God's  standpoint,  a  man  is  just  as  clean 
when  he  is  born  again  as  he  ever  can  be  after- 
ward. There  can  take  place  no  process  that  will 
cleanse  him  any  more  perfectly  than  he  is  cleansed 
in  the  work  of  regeneration,  because  he  has  got 
a  new  heart;  a  heart  that  is  as  much  unlike  his 
old  heart  as  his  old  heart  was  unlike  the  original 
heart  that  God  put  in  him  when  He  first  made 
him. 


86    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

Now,  let  us  go  back  again.  What  is  justifica- 
tion ?  It  is  the  making  right  of  the  sinner  in  the 
sight  of  God.  Justification  is  taking  the  sinner, 
and  covering  his  sin  with  the  blood  of  Jesus  so 
that  God  Himself  cannot  see  that  sin.  It  is  abso- 
lutely and  forever  put  away  by  the  covering  of 
the  blood  of  Jesus.  The  blood  of  Jesus  is  so 
thick  that  God's  great  piercing  eye  cannot  see 
through  it  and  discover  the  sin  of  that  sinner 
that  is  under  the  blood. 

That  is  the  work  of  justification.  The  sinner 
now  stands  free  from  condemnation  under  the 
blood  of  Jesus. 

If  you  ask  me  what  part  character  takes,  I 
tell  you,  absolutely  none.  It  takes  no  part  in  sal- 
vation at  all,  only  that  character  is  the  outcome 
of  salvation.  God  justifies  the  sinner  by  covering 
up  his  sin  and  putting  it  out  of  sight,  and  in  that 
sense  only  is  his  character  involved. 

Let  us  take  the  next  great  word,  which  is 
found  in  the  tenth  and  eleventh  verses,  the  word 
"reconciliation."  What  does  it  mean?  We  find 
that  the  word  from  which  we  get  our  word  recon- 
ciliation means  *'to  restore  to  harmony,"  and  we 
find  that  the  Greek  word  is  still  a  stronger  word. 
The  Greek  word  means  "to  exchange."  That  is 
to  say,  exchange  the  position  of  hostility  for  a 
position  of  peace.  When  we  were  reconciled,  we 
simply  exchanged  positions.  We  were  once  hos- 
tile to  God,  and  God  was  once  hostile  to  us.  In 
the  work  of  reconciliation  we  have  in  exchange 


Reconciliation  and  Righteousness   87 

for  our  hostility  the  peace  of  God  that  passeth 
understanding. 

Now,  this  is  brought  about  in  this  way :  First, 
by  a  movement  on  God's  part  toward  us,  and  that 
movement  always  begins  with  God.  The  initia- 
tory move  began  with  God,  and  in  that  initiatory 
movement  of  God  toward  the  sinner  for  his 
reconciliation,  there  is  wrapped  up  everything 
that  love  can  possibly  do,  even  to  the  extent  of 
the  death  of  His  own  Son.  It  seems  that  God 
exhausted  heaven  and  earth  in  His  effort  to  save 
man.  He  gave  His  own  Son  as  a  last  step  to 
impress  the  race  of  fallen  men  with  the  fact  that 
His  great  heart  of  love  was  sorrowing  for  them. 

This  is  the  first  movement  on  the  part  of  God 
to  reach  and  save  man.  And  that  movement  on 
the  part  of  God  is  complemented  by  a  corre- 
sponding movement  on  the  part  of  man  toward 
God.  God  is  moving  heaven  and  earth  to  get  to 
man,  and  man  becomes  aware  of  that  fact,  and 
realizing  his  helpless  condition,  and  seeing  that 
God  is  moving  everything  in  his  direction,  he,  in 
turn,  begins  to  move  towards  God.  With  God 
moving  manward  and  man  moving  Godward  it 
does  not  take  them  long  to  get  together,  and 
when  they  meet  the  first  thing  that  takes  place 
is  this:  A  change  of  the  sin  character  of  the 
man  himself,  and  a  corresponding  change  of 
judgment  on  the  part  of  God  toward  man. 

Man  comes  in  contact  with  God,  having  his 
eye  of  faith  centered  upon  God  and  His  right- 


88    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

eousness  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  they  meet.  That 
faith  is  recognized;  and  at  once  in  the  purpose 
of  God  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  covers  the  sin 
of  the  man,  and  he  is  left  standing  in  the  presence 
of  God,  after  this  application  of  the  blood  of 
Jesus,  with  all  of  his  sin  covered. 

Just  think  of  it!  A  poor,  helpless  sinner. 
Somebody  flashes  the  light,  and  the  movement  of 
God  toward  him  is  seen  and  his  heart  is  amazed 
by  this  matchless  love,  and  he  looks  up  and  grasps 
by  faith  the  cross  and  is  saved. 


'As  we  all  by  foreign  guilt 

In  Adam  are  reviled. 

Therefore  we  all  by  sovereign  grace 

In  Christ  are  reconciled." 


Let  us  now  see  the  next  step:  The  necessity 
for  all  this.  In  what  does  the  necessity  for  all 
this  work  of  God  consist?  It  consists  in  the  one 
fact  of  Adam's  sin.  Never  mind  what  people  say 
about  Adam's  sin  in  a  jocular  way,  it  is  true  that 
the  necessity  for  all  this  work  that  we  have  been 
considering  and  are  to  consider  lies  in  the  fact 
of  Adam's  sin. 

"But  how  is  man  to  be  held  responsible  for 
Adam's  sin  when  he  had  nothing  to  do  with  that 
sin  which  Adam  committed?  How  are  we  to 
be  held  responsible  for  Adam's  sin?"  somebody 
says. 


Reconciliation  and  Righteousness   89 

The  question  grows  out  of  a  failure  to  recog- 
nize the  federal  headship  of  Adam.  Adam  is  the 
federal  head  of  the  race  of  mankind,  and  as  such 
he  gives  coloring  to  all  his  children.  Here  is  a 
father,  and  he  lives  in  such  a  way  as  to  contract 
Bright's  disease,  and  you  look  down  three  or  four 
generations  and  you  see  a  child  with  puffed  eyes 
and  swollen  limbs.  The  doctor  is  called  in,  and 
he  soon  reveals  the  fact  that  that  child  has 
Bright's  disease,  and  he  goes  back  to  the  father 
and  mother  and  finds  Bright's  disease;  he  goes 
back  to  the  grandfather,  and  there  was  Bright's 
disease;  he  goes  back  to  the  great-grandfather, 
and  there  was  Bright's  disease. 

You  say  that  does  not  look  fair,  for  that  child 
to  suffer  for  the  sin  of  that  parent.  No  matter 
whether  it  is  fair  or  not,  it  is  a  fact. 

Now,  with  respect  to  this  matter  of  sin :  Adam 
is  the  federal  head  of  the  race,  and  for  Adam's 
sin  the  world  is  suffering.  It  cannot  be  other- 
wise. I  remember  when  I  was  in  England  dur- 
ing the  Boer  war,  I  found  that  very  few  of  the 
English  people  were  in  favor  of  that  war,  but  the 
federal  head  of  that  government  declared  war, 
and  to  war  they  had  to  go. 

If  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  were  to 
declare  war  upon  any  foreign  nation,  it  would  not 
be  a  question  as  to  whether  we  wanted  to  go  to 
war  or  not,  or  whether  we  believed  in  war  or 
not. 

During  the  war  between  the  states  my  father 


90    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

never  believed  in  secession.  He  never  believed 
in  slavery.  He  did  not  have  any  negroes  to  de- 
fend, and  he  did  not  care  to  defend  those  of  the 
men  that  did,  but  he  had  to  go  to  war  all  the 
same.  The  federal  head  said  war,  and  to  war  he 
went.  * 

So,  my  friends,  it  is  just  that  way  with  respect 
to  Adam's  sin.  He  plunged  into  sin,  and  all  the 
race  of  mankind  plunged  with  him,  because  he 
was  the  federal  head  of  the  race. 

What  is  the  consequence  of  Adam's  sin  to  the 
world  ?  First,  universal  sin ;  sin  everywhere ;  sin 
among  all  people;  sin  for  all  time  to  come;  sec- 
ond, universal  death.  That  sort  of  universalism 
I  know  is  true. 

It  is  the  strangest  thing  to  me  that  the  people 
who  are  always  arguing  against  the  justice  of  the 
whole  race  of  Adam  suffering  because  of  Adam's 
sin  never  have  one  word  to  say  about  the  fact 
that  death  is  universal  because  of  Adam's  sin. 
Not  only  are  we  guilty  in  the  sight  of  God  be- 
cause of  Adam's  sin,  but  we  are  condemned  to 
die  because  of  Adam's  sin.  (i  Cor.  15:22:  "As 
in  Adam  all  die,  even  so  in  Christ  shall  all  be 
made  alive,"  refers  to  the  death  and  resurrection 
of  the  body.) 

You  will  see  by  reading  the  thirteenth  verse  of 
this  fifth  chapter  that  sin  was  in  the  world  before 
the  law  was  given.  The  law  here  refers  to  the 
law  of  Moses,  and  then  you  will  see  this  also, 
that  sin  is  not  imputed  where  there  is  no  law. 


Reconciliation  and  Righteousness   91 

What  is  meant  by  that?  The  Apostle  says  that 
sin  was  in  the  world  before  the  law ;  that  is  to 
say,  the  law  is  not  the  origin  of  sin.  Sin  was 
here  before  the  law  was  given.  It  was  here  from 
Adam  down  to  Moses,  and  has  been  here  ever 
since.  But  he  says  that  sin  is  not  imputed  where 
there  is  no  law. 

Are  we  to  understand  by  that  that  those  people 
who  lived  from  Adam  down  to  Moses  were 
saved?  Were  all  those  people  saved?  I  do  not 
think  so,  for  the  law  was  in  their  hearts.  It 
means  much  more  than  that.  It  means  that  the 
atonement  of  Jesus  Christ  is  so  broad,  so  big,  so 
deep  that  it  covers  all  sin  up  to  the  point  at 
which  a  human  being  reaches  a  sense  of  con- 
scious responsibility. 

It  is  in  that  way  that  we  can  account  for  the 
salvation  of  infants.  There  is  but  one  way,  and 
that  is  in  perfect  keeping  with  what  is  taught 
here.  Infants  are  saved  by  the  atonement  of 
Christ.  The  atonement  of  Jesus  Christ  was  for 
sin,  and  nobody  will  ever  get  inside  of  heaven's 
gate  that  is  not  there  through  the  atoning  blood 
of  Jesus  Christ,  but  sin  is  not  imputed  until  the 
law  begins  to  operate,  for  it  is  covered  by  the 
blood,  but  the  moment  that  the  law  begins  to 
operate,  the  moment  of  consciousness  of  right 
and  wrong  and  our  relation  to  the  great  God  and 
His  holy  law  dawns  upon  us ;  then  and  there  sin 
revives  and  we  become  personally  accountable  for 
sin. 


92    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

But  what  about  the  heathen?  Every  heathen 
baby  born  into  the  world  is  saved.  Why?  Be- 
cause the  sin  is  not  imputed  to  that  child  until 
the  law  is  given.  But  you  say,  "The  heathen  in 
many  sections  never  had  the  law."  Do  you  not 
remember  that  we  found  that  the  heathen  had  the 
law  revealed  in  their  consciences,  and  in  nature, 
and  they  went  back  upon  the  revelation  of  God 
upon  their  inner  consciences  and  in  nature, 
and  thus  they  were  violators  of  God's  law.  So  it 
is  to-day.  But  their  children  do  not  sin  until  "the 
commandment  comes"  to  each  little  heart;  then 
sin  revives  and  he  disobeys  and  dies. 

I  maintain  that  wherever  a  man  is  found  in 
heathen  lands  without  the  law  and  the  knowledge 
of  Christ,  who  lives  up  to  the  teaching  of  God 
as  revealed  in  his  inner  conscience  and  in  nature 
about  him;  wherever  such  a  man  is  found,  that 
man  is  saved.  But  that  is  stated  only  to  state 
another  proposition,  that  that  man  is  never 
found. 

What  is  the  ground  of  this  reconciliation  ?  The 
ground  of  it  is  the  righteousness  of  Christ.  We 
have  no  merit  of  our  own.  What  is  meant  by  this 
word  righteousness  ?  Here  is  another  great  pivot 
word.  The  word  righteousness  means  "adjust- 
ment to  the  right." 

What  does  God  demand  of  man?  He  can  de- 
mand but  one  thing  of  him,  and  that  is  absolute 
righteousness — that  he  shall  be  adjusted  to  the 
right.     God  is  right:  He  is  the  embodiment  of 


Reconciliation  and  Righteousness   93 

absolute  righteousness,  and  He  cannot  demand 
anything  less  than  that  and  be  righteous  Himself 
and  absolutely  holy.  He  has  to  be  complemented 
if  He  is  to  be  reconciled  to  the  race. 

Reconciliation  presupposes  an  adjustment  of 
all  the  existing  difficulties,  of  every  single  thing 
that  has  kept  the  parties  at  variance. 

What  is  the  only  thing  that  ever  separated  God 
and  man?  Sin.  They  would  be  walking  in  the 
Garden  of  Eden  arm  in  arm  now  if  it  had  not 
been  for  sin.  The  whole  race  of  Adam  would  to 
this  day  be  keeping  step  with  God,  never  one  dy- 
ing. Sin  separated  God  from  man.  Sin  is  the 
thing  that  God  has  to  put  away  before  He  can 
be  reconciled  to  man.  That  is  the  demand.  It  is 
absolute  righteousness. 

God  saw  that  the  race  could  not  meet  His  de- 
mands. He  gave  Adam  instructions  as  to  how 
to  keep  His  requirements  and  Adam  failed. 
Then  He  gave  man  the  law,  and  the  law  failed. 
He  put  the  law  in  their  consciences  and  in  nature, 
and  that  failed,  and  then  what?  Then  He  gave 
Himself.  God  saw  that  there  was  nothing  under 
heaven  that  man  could  do,  or  that  He  could  do 
for  man,  that  would  make  him  complement  His 
righteousness,  so  He  gave  Himself. 

If  we  could  understand  that,  how  it  would 
change  our  instructions  in  the  inquiry  room!  If 
we  could  make  men  see  that  it  is  simply  looking 
up  by  faith  and  receiving  the  righteousness  of 
Jesus  Christ.    As  I  study  these  truths  I  see  more 


94     Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

fallacy  in  the  teaching  that  is  done  in  our  evan- 
gelistic services  in  our  effort  to  lead  men  to 
Christ  than  I  ever  thought  existed.  Oh,  the  need 
of  a  more  intelligent  conception  of  the  great  and 
yet  simple  scheme  of  redemption! 


IX 

RELATION  OF  SALVATION  TO  LIFE 
Ch.  6:1-14 

I.  The  Question  Stated. 

II.  The  Answer. 

III.  The    Argument — Our    Union    with 
Christ. 

1.  His  death. 

2.  His  burial. 

3.  His  resurrection. 

4.  Baptism. 

IV.  The     Results     that     Follow     This 
Union. 

1.  Changed  relation  to  sin. 

(a)  Not  to  reign  in  our  mortal  bodies. 

(b)  Not  to  present  our  members  as  instru- 
ments of  unrighteousness. 

2.  Changed  relation  to  righteousness. 

(a)  Present  bodies  to  God.  (b)  Yield  mem- 
bers to  righteousness. 
We  have  considered  the  question  of  God's  pro- 
vision of  Salvation.  We  have  seen  the  method  of 
this  provision  and  the  operation  of  it.  Now  we 
come  to  consider  the  relation  of  this  salvation  to 
life. 

95 


96    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

In  the  first  verse  we  find  the  Apostle  raising 
the  question.  "What  shall  we  say  then  ?  shall  we 
continue  in  sin  that  grace  may  abound?"  There 
are  men  and  women  to-day  who  are  asking  the 
same  question.  They  are  arguing  that  inasmuch 
as  works  have  no  part  in  salvation,  they  will  ac- 
cept the  salvation  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  then  sin 
as  much  as  they  please.  A  man  said  to  me  not 
many  days  ago,  "If  I  believed  as  you  teach,  that 
salvation  is  all  of  grace  and  not  of  works,  that 
works  play  no  part  in  it,  I  would  be  the  hap- 
piest man  in  the  world."  I  said,  "That  is  just 
exactly  how  happy  we  are."  "Yes,"  he  said,  "but 
I  would  be  happy  because  of  another  reason.  I 
could  then  sin  as  much  as  I  pleased  and  feel 
sure  that  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  covered  it 
all  up."  I  said,  "My  brother,  you  do  not  know 
the  full  significance  of  the  salvation  of  Jesus 
Christ.    If  you  did  you  would  not  say  that." 

The  Apostle  Paul  was  surrounded  by  those 
who  talked  and  felt  that  way,  and  after  he  had 
given  them  such  clear  teaching  concerning  salva- 
tion by  grace,  then  he  began  to  ask  this  question 
of  those  around  him :  "Shall  we  continue  in  sin 
that  grace  may  abound?"  and  his  answer  is, 
"God  forbid."  Then  he  proceeds  to  give  them 
the  argument. 

It  consists  in  the  fact  that  a  saved  soul  is  united 
with  Christ,  and  this  union  comes  through  His 
death,  burial,  and  resurrection.  Then  he  proceeds 
to  use  baptism  as  an  illustration  of  the  complete- 


Relation  of  Salvation  to  Life      97 

ness  and  thoroughness  of  this  union  with  Jesus 
Christ. 

Now  he  says  this  union  with  Christ  that  is  so 
complete  is  a  part  of  His  very  death,  His  burial, 
and  His  resurrection.  I  have  recently  become 
convicted  of  this  mistake  in  our  teaching  concern- 
ing the  cross.  We  have  been  placing  great  stress 
upon  the  efficacy  of  the  cross.  We  have  held  up 
the  cross  perpetually  before  men,  and  have  done 
well  to  do  it,  for  if  people  do  not  see  Jesus  on 
the  cross  there  is  no  possible  way  of  salvation, 
but  I  believe  that  we  have  made  a  mistake  in 
failing  to  call  upon  people  who  are  desirous  of 
salvation  to  see  not  only  Christ  on  the  cross,  but 
themselves  with  Christ  on  the  cross. 

Now,  the  teaching  of  the  Apostle  here  is :  On 
the  cross  of  Calvary  with  Jesus  Christ,  we  all 
died.  Some  time  since  Rev.  F.  B.  Meyer  and  I 
were  talking  together  and  he  said  to  me :  "Brother 
Broughton,  I  caught  a  vision  the  other  morning 
that  I  never  had  before.  I  do  not  know  whether 
you  have  ever  had  it  or  not,  but  I  want  to  tell 
you  about  it. 

"I  had  been  studying  about  the  cross  until  I 
had  my  soul  saturated  with  it,  so  saturated  that 
I  could  not  sleep,  and  I  got  up  and  got  a  pencil 
and  notebook  and  made  a  sermon  on  the  cross. 
I  intended  to  preach  that  sermon  on  Sunday 
morning,  and  so  I  got  up  and  dressed  myself,  and 
finally  was  adjusting  my  tie  before  the  mirror, 
and   just   as    I   finished   adjusting   my   tie,   the 


98    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

thought  of  the  cross  came  back  to  my  mind,  and 
I  began  to  run  over  the  various  points  in  my  ser- 
mon, when  I  said  to  myself,  'Have  I  ever  been 
on  that  cross?'  Potentially  I  was  on  the  cross 
when  Jesus  hung  there,  but  actually,  in  experi- 
ence, have  I  been  on  that  cross?  Have  I  felt 
the  nails  in  my  hands,  and  the  crown  upon  my 
forehead,  and  the  spear  in  my  side?  Have  I 
felt  the  loneliness  of  Jesus  as  He  hung  upon  the 
cross?'  and  I  trembled,  and  I  turned  from  the 
mirror  and  walked  up  and  down  and  the  thought 
was  so  overmastering  that  I  dropped  down  to 
pray,  and  still  that  question  came,  and  I  got  up 
from  my  knees  and  walked  up  to  that  mirror 
and  stood  before  it  and  stretched  out  my  arms 
and  looked  up  to  God  and  said,  'Oh,  God,  nail 
these  hands  with  Jesus  to  the  cross !'  and  I  stood 
there  a  moment  and  saw  myself  actually  hang- 
ing with  Jesus  with  a  howling  mob  at  my  feet, 
and  from  it  I  had  such  peace  as  I  never  had  in 
my  life,  and  instead  of  preaching  the  sermon  on 
the  cross,  which  I  had  prepared,  inviting  every- 
body to  look  at  the  cross  to  be  saved,  I  went 
before  my  people  that  morning  and  gave  them 
that  experience  and  closed  my  sermon  with  an 
appeal  as  strong  as  I  could  make  it  for  every 
man  and  woman  to  get  down  before  God  and 
never  get  up  until  they  actually,  in  experience, 
saw  themselves  upon  the  cross." 

Not  only  does  the  Apostle  argue  that  on  the 
cross  with  Jesus  we  died,  but  he  argues  further 


Relation  of  Salvation  to  Life      99 

that  from  the  cross  with  Jesus  we  were  buried; 
that  we  were  put  clean  out  of  sight  of  the  world, 
and  the  world  out  of  sight  of  us;  but  not  only 
are  we  united  with  Him  through  the  cross  and 
burial,  but,  blessed  be  God,  we  are  united  with 
Him  through  the  resurrection.  As  Jesus  was 
raised  from  the  dead,  and  as  He  walked  in  a  new 
atmosphere  and  a  new  experience,  absolutely 
separate  and  distinct  from  anything  and  every- 
thing he  had  ever  experienced  before,  so  we  must 
walk  in  newness  of  life.  Now  that  is  the  close- 
ness of  this  union  with  Christ. 

What  is  the  difference  between  a  saint  and  a 
sinner?  It  is  the  difference  of  the  grave.  Be- 
tween the  saint  and  the  sinner  is  the  open  grave, 
and  the  sinner  is  on  this  side  facing  it,  and  the 
saint  is  on  the  resurrection  side,  leaving  it  be- 
hind, having  conquered  it.  He  is  dead  with 
Christ,  buried  with  Christ,  resurrected  with 
Christ. 

I  think  one  of  the  most  important  lessons  we 
can  possibly  get  out  of  this  study  is  this.  I 
would  to  God  that  every  professed  believer  in 
Jesus  Christ  was  really  and  truly  on  the  resur- 
rection side  of  the  grave.  I  would  to  God  that 
every  person  I  ever  baptized  in  my  life  was  really 
and  truly,  as  their  baptism  professes,  on  the  other 
side  of  the  grave,  walking  in  newness  of  life,  and 
if  our  baptism  does  not  mean  this,  it  does  not 
mean  anything.  It  amounts  to  worse  than  noth- 
ing, for  it  is  a  mockery  in  the  sight  of  God.    If 


loo    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

our  lives  are  not  different  from  what  they  were 
before  we  were  baptized,  then  we  make  a  mock- 
ery of  God ;  we  misuse  the  ordinance  of  baptism. 
It  is  not  to  get  into  the  Church  that  people 
are  baptized.  Baptism  is  not  the  door  to  the 
Church. 

But  somebody  says,  ''Did  we  actually  die  with 
Jesus?  I  have  never  seen  a  man  yet  who  ac- 
tually died  when  he  exercised  faith.  This  old 
flesh  still  lives.  How,  then,  did  we  die  with 
Jesus  ?"  We  died  potentially  with  Jesus.  We  see 
from  this  nth  verse  that  we  are  to  reckon  our- 
selves as  dead  with  Christ ;  as  buried  with  Christ  ; 
as  resurrected  with  Christ.  "Reckon  ye  your- 
selves dead."  That  is  to  say,  we  are  by  faith  to 
accept  Jesus  Christ  in  His  atoning  work  upon  the 
cross  as  our  salvation;  then,  having  accepted 
Jesus  Christ  for  salvation,  we  are  to  treat  sin  as 
if  we  were  dead,  and  give  it  no  more  control  over 
us  than  if  we  were  dead.  That  is  what  the  Apos- 
tle Paul  meant  when  he  said,  ''Reckon  yourselves 
dead."  He  knows  that  this  old  flesh  is  still  alive, 
tremendously  alive,  and  it  has  been  alive  in  every 
man  that  has  lived  since  he  lived,  but  we  are  to 
reckon  ourselves  dead  and  treat  sin  as  if  we 
were  dead. 

I  remember  hearing  this  story :  There  were  two 
men,  both  preachers,  and  they  were  great  friends. 
They  went  through  the  university  together,  and 
were  inseparable.  However,  when  they  grad- 
uated they  were  separated.    One  went  as  a  mis- 


Relation  of  Salvation  to  Life     i  o  i 

sionary  to  a  far-distant  country,  and  the  other 
stayed  in  England.  Before  they  separated,  each 
signed  a  covenant  to  this  effect :  If  you  die  first, 
I  will  preach  your  funeral  sermon.  If  I  die  first, 
you  will  preach  mine. 

They  separated.  Years  and  years  passed,  and 
after  awhile  in  the  providence  of  God  these  two 
ministers  met  again,  and  it  was  a  joyful  good 
time  when  they  met.  They  talked  about  the  vari- 
ous things  that  had  transpired.  One  finally  said 
to  the  other,  ''Look  here,  do  you  remember  that 
contract  we  made  when  we  separated?" 

"Yes,  I  do." 

"Well,  you  remember  that  we  agreed  to  write 
our  funeral  sermons  and  keep  them  until  the 
time  came  for  their  delivery.  Did  you  write 
yours  ?" 

"Yes.     Did  you  write  yours?" 

"Have  you  got  your  funeral  sermon  on  me?" 

"Yes.    Have  you  got  yours  on  me  ?" 

"Well,  I  declare.  Isn't  that  funny?  I  tell 
you — you  get  yours  and  I  will  get  mine,  and  let's 
get  together  and  we  will  read  what  we  said  then 
just  fresh  from  the  university.  And  we  will  see 
if  we  have  changed  our  opinions." 

And  so  they  got  together  with  their  sermons. 
Number  One  got  up  to  preach  the  funeral  sermon 
of  Number  Two.  He  stood  in  front  of  him,  and 
began.  His  oration  was  very  beautiful,  and  his 
language  was  perfect.  As  he  piled  it  on  and 
on  and  on,  Number  Two  smiled  and  said,  "Hold 


I02    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

on!"  "No,"  said  Number  One,  "you  keep  your 
seat.    You  are  dead,  and  dead  people  don't  talk." 

Now,  that  is  just  exactly  what  the  Apostle 
means.  We  are  to  reckon  ourselves  dead.  We 
are  to  act  with  relation  to  sin  as  if  we  were  dead, 
and  sin  is  to  have  no  more  charm,  and  no  more 
influence  over  our  lives  than  if  we  were  dead. 

Then  let  us  see  the  significance  of  the  result  of 
this  union  with  Christ.  The  result  of  this  union 
with  Christ  is  twofold.  First,  it  results  in  a 
changed  relation  to  sin;  secondly,  in  a  changed 
relation  to  righteousness. 

Now,  with  reference  to  changed  relation  to  sin, 
we  find  this :  That  we  are  not  to  let  sin  reign  in 
our  bodies  (verse  12). 

From  this  I  gather  that  the  Apostle  means 
to  convey  this:  That  sin  is  still  present  in  the 
flesh;  hence  he  says,  "Let  not  sin  reign  in,  or 
over,  your  bodies."  It  is  there.  It  will  always  be 
there. 

You  know  there  are  certain  teachers  that  teach 
that  through  a  certain  process  which  they  call 
sanctification,  the  whole  Adamic  nature  is  eradi- 
cated; that  there  is  therefore  no  such  thing  as 
sin  from  within;  that  sin  comes  to  them  from 
without. 

Now,  I  know  some  good  people  who  teach  that, 
but  they  are  very,  very  much  mistaken  in  their 
teaching,  if  I  know  anything  at  all  about  the 
teaching  of  the  Scriptures.  Sin  never  leaves  the 
flesh.    That  which  is  flesh  is  flesh,  and  that  which 


Relation  of  Salvation  to  Life      103 

is  spirit  is  spirit.  Flesh  will  remain  flesh  until 
death.  Sin  always  lives  in  the  flesh,  and  when 
I  hear  men  talking  to  the  contrary,  I  always  feel 
to  pity  them.  I  feel  for  them  because  I  have 
seen  so  many  wrecks  come  from  that  kind  of 
teaching. 

''Let  not  sin  reign  in  your  mortal  bodies. 
Now  we  are  not  to  infer  that  because  sin  is  in  the 
flesh  we  are  just  to  let  sin  play  havoc  with  us. 
That  is  the  very  opposite  of  what  he  is  teaching. 
He  calls  us  to  recognize  that  sin  is  present,  and 
also  admonishes  us  to  see  to  it  that  sin  does 
not  get  the  mastery  over  us  and  make  us  do  things 
that  we  ought  not  to  do. 

Then  again  we  are  admonished  not  to  present 
our  members  as  instruments  of  unrighteousness. 
By  members  here  he  means  the  various  faculties 
and  senses  of  the  body.  He  not  only  wants  us 
to  keep  sin  from  having  dominion  over  the  body, 
but  also  to  be  careful  that  we  do  not  allow  our 
members  to  become  instruments  of  unrighteous- 
ness. Now  this  is  the  change  relative  to  right- 
eousness. 

In  the  first  place  there  was  the  changed  rela- 
tion with  reference  to  sin.  We  have  a  different 
view  of  sin  and  look  at  sin  in  an  entirely  differ- 
ent way  from  what  we  once  looked  at  it.  We 
look  at  sin  now  as  a  dead  man,  and  then,  on  the 
other  hand,  present  our  bodies  as  alive  from  the 
dead.  Present  our  members  as  instruments  for 
righteousness.    This  is  an  argument  against  nega- 


I04    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

tive  Christianity,  and  is  one  of  the  things  that  is 
needed  to  be  taught. 

How  much  negative  goodness  there  is  in  this 
world!  People  who  are  content  with  not  doing 
any  wrong!  We  find  them  at  conventions  and 
Bible  conferences  and  Bible  institutions  and  the 
like.  They  have  a  kind  of  craze  for  going  around 
getting  Bible  teaching. 

We  need  our  churches  filled  with  men  and 
women  who  will  not  do  a  known  wrong,  who 
cannot  be  bought  nor  bribed  nor  bulldozed  into 
doing  wrong.  I  wish  we  had  more  of  this  type  of 
Christians.  There  are  so  many  jellyfish  Chris- 
tians in  our  churches.  They  serve  God  all  right 
as  long  as  it  is  easy,  but  the  moment  there  is  a 
fight  on  hand  they  play  the  coward  and  skulk 
off  and  hide. 

We  want  men  and  women  who  cannot  be 
driven  to  do  wrong,  it  makes  no  difference  how 
hard  the  battle.  We  want  them  all  filled  with 
the  Spirit  that  enables  them  to  do  right  in  spite 
of  everything;  determined  not  to  do  wrong,  and 
fully  as  determined  to  do  right.  We  do  not  find 
many  like  that.  We  find  a  great  many  who  are 
determined  not  to  do  wrong — you  cannot  hire 
them  to  do  wrong — but  you  go  to  them  and  say, 
"Come  to  prayer-meeting  to-night,"  and  they  will 
say,  ''Oh,  I  want  to  stay  at  home  with  my  wife 
and  babies  to-night!" 


X 

RELATION  OF  SALVATION  TO  LAW 
Ch.  6:15-23 

I.  The  Question  Stated. 

II.  The  Answer. 

III.  The  Argument.  . 

You  will  see  here  that  the  Apostle  changes  a  bit 
his  form  of  argument.  First,  he  argues  from 
what  they  were  under  the  law  to  what  they  are 
under  grace. 

I.  What  they  were  under  law. 

(a)  Servants  of  sin. 

(b)  Without  righteousness. 

(c)  Condemned  to  death. 

2.  What  they  are  under  grace. 

(a)  Free  from  sin. 

(b)  Servants  of  God. 

The  question  comes,  what  are  we  to  do  with 
the  law?  "What!"  said  they,  "shall  we  sin  be- 
cause we  are  not  under  the  law?"  The  Apostle 
had  during  the  teaching  emphasized  the  fact  that 
they  were  not  under  the  law.  That  question  is 
asked  to-day.  Men  say,  "If  I  am  not  under  the 
law,  but  under  grace,  I  can  go  on  and  sin  and  it 
105 


io6    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology- 
is  all  right."     Now,  the  Apostle  answers,  "God 
forbid." 

Then  follows  the  argument,  which  is  this : 
First,  what  we  were  under  the  law.  What  were 
we  under  the  law?  "Servants  of  sin,"  properly 
translated,  "slaves  to  sin."  Sin  had  the  mastery 
over  us.  Under  the  law  we  were  "without  right- 
eousness." Why?  Because  the  law  could  not 
make  one  righteous. 

We  saw  in  a  former  lecture  that  righteousness 
is  a  proper  balancing  of  God;  that  nothing  can 
balance  God  but  God;  no  holiness  can  compare 
with  the  righteousness  of  God.  It  takes  God 
Himself  to  balance  Himself,  and  so,  without  God 
in  Christ  Jesus,  there  can  be  no  righteousness, 
hence  they  were  under  the  law,  without  right- 
eousness. Being  under  the  law  without  right- 
eousness, they  were  sentenced  to  eternal  death. 

What  are  we  under  grace?  Now  here  is  the 
change  that  has  taken  place.  First,  we  are  "free 
from  sin."  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  we  are 
free  to  sin,  but  we  are  free  from  sin.  Not  from 
the  actual  presence  of  sin,  but  free  from  the 
dominion  of  sin's  power.  The  blood  of  Jesus 
Christ  has  covered  the  sin,  and  by  the  Holy  Spirit 
we  are  given  power  to  keep  under  subjection  the 
things  of  the  flesh. 

Then,  in  the  next  place,  we  are  "servants  of 
God."  Free  from  sin,  and  servants  of  God  unto 
righteousness.  Not  only  that,  but  we  are  serv- 
ants of  God  unto  the  fruit  of  "sanctification." 


Relation  of  Salvation  to  Law     107 

That  word  sanctification  brings  us  face  to  face 
with  another  pivot  word.  Since  the  Apostle  has 
told  us  that  we  are  ''free  from  sin  unto  the  right- 
eousness of  God  unto  sanctification"  we  need  to 
know  what  sanctification  means. 

The  word  means  to  hallow,  or  consecrate. 
What  is  meant  by  ''hallow"?  It  means  "to  set 
apart  for  holy  use."  What  is  the  teaching  of  the 
Apostle  here?  He  means  that  under  grace  we 
are  saved  from  sin  and  are  servants  of  God  to 
righteousness  unto  the  fruit  in  our  daily  lives 
of  holy  service.     That  is  what  he  means. 

When  is  sanctification  possible?  Is  it  some 
after  blessing  that  comes  to  one  long  after  he  has 
been  saved  ?  Is  it  some  great  experience  that  one 
attains  to  but  never  realizes  until  he  dies  ?  When 
is  sanctification  possible?  Potentially,  sanctifi- 
cation is  when  a  man  is  saved.  When  a  man  is 
saved  he  is  saved,  sanctified  and  Spirit-filled  so 
far  as  the  provision  of  God  is  concerned,  but  he 
is  not  sanctified,  he  is  not  Spirit-filled,  so  far  as 
his  experience  goes,  until  he  comes  to  the  full 
appreciation  and  realization  of  what  God  has  for 
him  in  his  salvation. 

It  is  just  like  this :  I  have  a  deed  to  a  tract  of 
land  in  the  mountains  of  Georgia,  and  I  have 
worked  that  land  and  have  gotten  a  bit  out  of  it, 
but  have  never  been  made  rich  by  it ;  still  I  would 
not  part  with  it  for  a  good  deal.  I  work  it  and 
get  everything  out  of  it  that  I  can.  After  a  while 
a  man  comes  along  who  is  an  expert  and  on  my 


loS    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

land  he  discovers  a  lead  mine,  and  later  on  a  gold 
mine. 

He  comes  to  me  and  says,  "Do  you  know  that 
you  have  a  gold  mine  and  a  lead  mine  on  this 
tract  of  land  ?"  I  go  with  him  and  find  that  it  is 
so.  "Now,"  he  says,  "I  want  to  tell  you  what 
I  will  do.  I  will  give  you  millions  of  dollars  for 
that  piece  of  land,  or  you  can  work  it  yourself 
and  make  millions." 

Provisionally,  I  had  all  that  when  I  got  my 
deed,  but  I  did  not  know  it,  so  I  spent  my  time 
bringing  up  corn  nubbins  when  I  could  have  been 
bringing  up  gold  and  lead. 

Provisionally,  when  I  was  saved  I  was  sancti- 
fied, and  filled  with  the  Spirit.  I  had  every  gift 
that  God  had  to  bestow  upon  the  Christian  life, 
but  I  did  not  know  it.  One  day  someone  came 
along  and  taught  me  about  my  righteousness  in 
Christ  Jesus;  that  I  died  on  the  cross  with 
Him.  I  tell  you,  when  a  man  puts  his  hand  in 
the  hand  of  Jesus  and  has  the  nails  driven 
through,  he  has  got  everything  that  God  has 
got.  God  will  impoverish  heaven  to  bless  such 
an  one. 

When  I  was  told  about  this  and  realized  it,  I 
simply  stretched  out  my  faith  and  took  it  in. 
Now,  that  may  have  been  long  after  I  was  saved, 
or  it  may  have  been  at  the  time  I  was  saved. 
Most  people  are  not  properly  taught,  and  there- 
fore there  is  generally  a  vast  difference  in  the 
point  of  time  between  the  experience  of  sancti- 


Relation  of  Salvation  to  Law     1 09 

fication,  or  the  filling  of  the  Spirit  and  their  salva- 
tion. 

When  one  does  have  the  experience  of  sancti- 
fication,  does  it  necessarily  make  him  have 
strange  emotion? 

There  is  a  lot  of  talk  that  is  purely  human. 
It  is  worked-up  enthusiasm.  It  is  fox-fires  that 
shine  in  the  dark  and  then  go  out  in  the  light. 

The  experience  of  sanctification  that  I  find 
taught  here  in  the  Scriptures  is  nothing  more  nor 
less  than  this :  A  coming  to  that  place  where  the 
soul  realizes  the  fullness  of  God  in  salvation,  and 
yields  to  it  and  appropriates  it;  then  God  takes 
that  yielded  life,  fully  yielded  without  any 
reservation  whatever,  and  sets  it  apart  for  holy 
service,  it  may  be  in  the  kitchen;  it  may  be  in 
the  nursery  with  the  children;  it  may  be  in  the 
shop,  or  it  may  be  in  the  pulpit. 

No  bells  are  rung  in  heaven  to  announce  the 
fact.  No  bells  are  needed.  You  do  not  have 
to  tell  it,  the  world  will  find  it  out.  There  is  not 
enough  power  in  the  universe  to  keep  down  a 
wholly  sanctified  life.  What  we  want  is  the  reali- 
zation by  our  hearts  of  the  sanctification  of  the 
Spirit. 


XI 

FREEDOM  FROM  THE  LAW 
Ch.  7:1-12 
I.  How  Brought  About. 
n.  The  Result. 

1.  Joined  to  Christ. 

2.  Fruit  unto  God. 

3.  The  Newness  of  the  Spirit. 

The  first  six  verses  of  chapter  seven  reveal 
to  us  the  fact  of  our  freedom  from  the  law,  and 
I  am  sure  that  we  are  rejoicing  in  the  fact  that 
we  are  free  from  the  law.  I  am  sure  I  am,  for 
there  is  nothing  to  me  more  galling  than  legalism. 
There  are  a  great  many  Christian  people  who  are 
constantly  in  dread  of  the  loss  of  their  religion, 
as  they  call  it,  because  of  the  fact  that  they  vio- 
late some  phase  of  the  law ;  then  there  are  those 
who  are  constantly  in  this  dread  lest  they  fail 
to  do  something  required  by  the  law. 

I  know  people  to-day,  very  good  people,  whose 
hope  of  heaven  is  largely  made  up  of  the  hope 
that  they  are,  through  strenuous  endeavor,  keep- 
ing the  requirements  of  the  law ;  that  is,  that  they 
are  not  doing  any  conscious  wrong. 

There  are  others  who  are  trusting  in  heaven 
no 


Freedom  from  the  Law        1 1 1 

as  the  final  outcome  of  their  Hfe  of  service,  that 
they  are  doing  what  they  feel  to  be  the  require- 
ments of  God.  Now,  I  verily  believe  that  this 
fact  accounts  for  so  much  of  what  is  called  in 
this  country  "back-sliding."  You  go  to  the  peo- 
ple in  the  average  congregation  and  talk  to  them 
about  their  spiritual  life  and  many  will  say  to 
you,  **I  was  a  Christian,  but  am  not  now."  '*I 
once  had  a  hope  of  heaven,  but  have  not  now." 
"I  am  sure  I  was  saved  once,  but  I  did  this,  and 
I  did  that,  and  therefore  I  am  without  hope  and 
without  God.  I  am  a  sinner,  and  if  I  were  to  die 
I  would  go  to  a  Christless  grave." 

I  find  that  kind  of  people  everywhere  I  go.  I 
believe  that  it  is  especially  true  of  this  section 
of  the  country.  I  am  not  prepared  to  account  for 
it  except  that  there  has  been  a  lack  of  the  proper 
kind  of  teaching  with  respect  to  salvation.  Men 
from  the  platform  have  not  been  taught  really 
what  salvation  is,  and  how  salvation  is  obtained, 
and  how  salvation  is  maintained. 

Then  again  you  know  there  are  a  great  many 
good  people  who  are  straining  almost  to  death, 
straining  to  a  point  of  living  miserable  lives,  try- 
ing to  keep  certain  requirements  that  are  laid 
down,  not  by  the  law  of  God,  but  laid  down  by 
the  law  of  men,  and  I  do  not  know  of  anything 
that  will  so  gall  a  Christian  and  destroy  his  peace 
and  joy  and  happiness,  and  his  usefulness  as  well, 
as  an  effort  to  try  to  keep  certain  laws  made  by 
man  for  the  government  of  the  spiritual  life. 


1 1 2    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

I  have  made  up  my  mind  that  no  man  shall 
make  a  law  for  me.  No  man  shall  make  a  law 
for  me  to  conform  my  life  to.  I  do  not  mean 
to  say  that  we  are  to  ignore  the  advice  of  men; 
nor  do  I  mean  to  say  that  we  are  to  ignore  the 
teaching  or  requirements  of  the  law ;  but  I  do 
say,  when  the  final  disposition  is  made,  every  man 
in  his  own  conscience  before  God  has  got  to  say 
whether  he  will  do  this  or  whether  he  will  do  that, 
and  so  let  us  be  careful  that  we  do  not  practice  a 
religion  that  makes  us  miserable. 

But,  remember :  Being  conscientious  does  not 
make  a  thing  right,  yet  every  man  must  act  in 
accord  with  his  own  conscience  and  be  judged  at 
last  for  his  own  conduct,  and  no  sort  of  a  plea 
will  do  him  any  good  that  sets  up  the  moral 
judgment  of  anybody  else  in  his  defence. 

I  have  found  that  those  people  who  are  most 
exacting  in  their  requirements  of  certain  stand- 
ards of  their  fellowman  are  very  careless  about 
the  standards  that  they  set  up  for  their  own  lives. 
They  want  to  prescribe  a  course  for  other  men 
and  then  deny  other  men  any  right  to  prescribe 
for  them. 

For  example,  on  one  occasion  I  remember  a 
member  of  this  church  took  me  very  strongly  to 
task  for  favoring  what  we  call  here  our  "Lecture 
Course."  After  I  had  brought  every  sort  of  ar- 
gument to  bear  upon  him,  showing  him  that  this 
was  a  part  of  our  general  educational  system,  he 
came  back  at  me  by  quoting,  ''But  if  eating  meat 


Freedom  from  the  Law        113 

cause  my  brother  to  offend,  I  will  eat  no  meat 
while  the  world  stand." 

I  said,  "My  brother,  you  forget  the  fact  that 
you  work  on  Sunday;  that  almost  every  Sunday 
you  put  on  your  overalls,  get  on  your  engine  and 
ride  off.  There  are  other  men  who  would  not 
do  what  you  do." 

Now,  that  is  exactly  what  I  am  talking  about. 
We  ought  to  see  to  it  that  no  man  shall  rob  us  of 
the  joy  and  peace  and  personal  liberty  of  going 
to  Jesus  Christ  and  asking  Him  to  reveal  to  us 
what  is  right  and  what  is  wrong. 

Now  then,  the  Apostle  goes  on  in  this  sec- 
tion of  this  chapter  to  show  us  how  this  liberty 
of  which  we  have  been  speaking  is  brought  about. 
It  is  brought  about,  in  the  first  place,  by  the  death 
of  Christ.  We  have  seen  before  how  this  op- 
erates. The  requirement  of  God  is  the  righteous- 
ness of  man,  and  man  was  given  the  law  in  part 
to  reveal  the  righteousness  of  God.  The  law  was 
given  that  man  might  look  into  the  holy  char- 
acter of  God ;  and,  looking  through  the  law  at  the 
holy  character  of  God,  man  saw  that  it  was  im- 
possible for  him  to  measure  up  to  it.  And  then, 
too,  when  the  other  fact  is  revealed  that  the  law 
is  a  revelation  of  the  extent  of  sin  in  the  human 
heart,  he  was  still  further  from  complying  with 
God's  righteousness.  Jesus  Christ  was  the  only 
one  who  fulfilled  the  requirement  of  the  law,  and 
not  only  did  that,  but  died  on  the  cross,  making 
a  propitiation  for  the  sins  of  the  world,  blotting 


114    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

out  the  inherited  sin  and  the  accumulated  sin, 
Himself  fulfilling  the  law,  satisfying  divine  jus- 
tice; then  through  faith  in  Him  we  obtain  His 
righteousness  which  satisfies  the  demand  of  God. 
When  this  is  done,  the  sinner  is  free  from  the 
law,  because  Jesus  has  satisfied  the  demand  of 
the  law,  and  we  have  accepted  Christ;  and  all 
that  He  has  done  for  us  becomes  ours  by  faith. 
Our  righteousness  consists  not  in  a  law  that  we 
ourselves  satisfy,  but  in  a  law  that  has  in  every 
detail  been  satisfied  by  Jesus  Christ.  Our  right- 
eousness is  hid  in  Christ  and  His  righteousness  is 
in  us.  Oftentimes,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  it  is  "hid 
in  us,"  which  ought  not  to  be  the  fact. 

Now,  take  another  subject.  The  result  of  this 
great  transaction  is  that  we  are  joined  to  Christ. 
Many  of  you  have  read  of  the  Siamese  twins. 
They  were  separate  in  every  particular,  and  yet 
they  were  one.  The  same  blood  that  pulsated  in 
the  heart  of  one  pulsated  in  the  heart  of  the  other. 
The  same  life  that  was  lived  by  one  was  lived  by 
the  other.  Where  one  went  the  other  went. 
When  one  stood  the  other  stood.  One  man  would 
go  over  and  work  his  field  one  day,  and  they 
would  both  go  to  the  other  man's  field  the  next 
day.  They  were  different  in  every  particular,  and 
one  in  every  particular  that  was  essential. 

Now,  that  is  my  conception  of  what  the  Apos- 
tle means  when  he  says,  "Joined  with  Christ  in 
the  freedom  that  His  death  brings  from  the  law." 
We  are  different ;  Christ  lives  to-day  in  one  world 


Freedom  from  the  Law 


"5 


bodily,  we  live  in  another.  Christ  has  one  physi- 
cal appearance,  we  have  another,  but  we  are  one 
in  spite  of  that.  Where  Christ  goes  we  go. 
Where  we  go  Christ  goes;  for  the  same  spirit 
that  pulsates  in  the  heart  of  Christ  pulsates  in 
the  heart  of  His  children. 

When  I  came  across  that  thought  in  studying 
this  lesson,  it  thrilled  me  to  the  full.  To  think 
that  I  am  essentially  one  with  Him,  and  then, 
blessed  be  God,  He  is  one  with  me.  I  not  only 
have  imputed  righteousness,  but,  thanks  to  God ! 
there  is  the  possibility  of  imparted  right- 
eousness ;  that  is,  the  very  character  and  disposi- 
tion of  Christ  imparted  to  us  which  becomes  our 
character  and  our  disposition. 

Now  then,  further,  there  is  the  fruit  unto  God. 
We  have  been  talking  about  the  liberty  that  we 
have  in  Christ  Jesus.  Don't  imagine  that  the 
Apostle  Paul  is  teaching  license.  There  is  no 
such  thing  as  license  to  sin,  because  we  are  free 
from  the  law.  Far  from  it.  In  Christ  Jesus 
freed  from  the  law,  joined  to  Him  by  the  tie  of 
faith,  our  fruit  is  unto  Him. 

But  you  say :  "What  relation  does  the  law  have 
to  one  after  he  is  thus  joined  to  Christ?"  The 
law  has  to  him  this  relation :  Jesus  Christ  thought 
enough  of  the  law  to  keep  it.  I  am  in  Chirst 
Jesus  and  I  have  that  same  spirit  that  enabled 
Jesus  to  keep  the  law,  and  it  will  enable  me  to 
do  the  same  thing.  I  please  Him  by  abiding 
in  Him,  and  He  keeps  the  law.     It  will  be  a 


1 1 6    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

happy  day  for  us  when  we  cease  trying  to  fill  the 
law  by  physical  and  mental  effort.  It  was  a  happy 
day  for  me  when  I  came  to  see  that  all  that  a 
man  needs  is  the  indwelling  Spirit  teaching  him, 
guiding  him,  directing  him,  doing  for  him  the 
things  that  he  could  not  do  for  himself.  That  is 
the  only  way  men  grow  in  grace. 

The  average  man  begins  to  try  to  grow  in  grace 
by  his  own  effort.  He  starts  out  by  resolving, 
"I  will  do  this  and  that  and  the  other,"  and  'T 
will  not  do  this  and  that  and  the  other."  He  will 
not  grow  in  grace.  He  will  become  a  whining 
spiritual  dyspeptic.  Growth  in  grace  does  not 
come  that  way.  "The  fruit  of  the  spirit  is  love, 
joy,"  etc. 

The  fruit  of  the  spirit — the  indwelling  Christ 
having  been  given  perfect  right  of  way  in  our 
hearts — will  bear  the  fruit  of  grace  in  our  lives. 
It  is  Christ  in  man  that  does  the  work.  Oh,  that 
we  would  put  the  responsibility  where  he  delights 
to  have  it  put.     That  is  the  law  of  growth. 

Then,  in  the  next  place,  you  will  see  that  this 
is  service  in  Christ  Jesus  in  **the  newness  of  the 
spirit,"  and  not  in  the  oldness  of  the  letter.  This 
word  spirit  is  not  the  Holy  Spirit.  In  the  new- 
ness of  the  spirit;  that  is  to  say,  having  accepted 
Christ  as  our  Saviour,  having  been  freed  by  Him 
through  this  acceptance,  freed  from  the  galling  of 
the  law  and  given  the  liberty  that  is  in  Him,  then 
our  fruit  is  unto  God  and  it  is  rendered  with  a 
willing  spirit  in  us.    A  man  who  is  going  to  hold 


Freedom  from  the  Law        117 

out  in  the  Christian  Hfe  is  the  man  that  is  wilHng 
to  hold  out.  The  girl  who  won't  go  to  the  theater 
any  more  is  the  girl  who  has  been  taught  by  the 
Spirit  that  the  theater  is  wrong.  The  girl  who 
will  go  back  to  the  theater  is  the  one  who  has 
been  told  that  if  she  goes  to  the  theater  she 
will  have  to  get  out  of  the  Church.  She  says, 
"Well,  there  is  no  harm  in  it,  but  I  will  quit." 
Unless  there  comes  a  change  in  her  heart  that 
enables  her  to  see  that  it  is  wrong,  she  will  go 
back  to  it. 

What  the  Apostle  is  trying  to  impress  is  that 
the  proper  life  for  the  Christian  to  live  is  a  life 
of  willing  service  unto  God;  desiring  to  please 
God ;  loving  to  please  God.  That  will  be  true  of 
every  genuinely  converted  soul. 


XII 

THE  CHARACTER  AND  PURPOSE  OF 
THE  LAW 

Ch.  7:7-13 

I.  Not  Sin. 

II.  Revealed  Sin. 

III.  The  Argument. 

1.  The  Spiritual  and  the  Carnal. 

2.  Carnal  Operations. 

3.  The  Final  Conclusions. 

One  will  ask,  What,  then,  is  the  purpose  of  the 
law?  Why  is  there  any  sort  of  legalism  used 
at  all? 

The  Apostle,  I  think,  very  clearly  answers  that 
question.  In  the  first  place,  he  declares  that  the 
law  is  not  sin.  He  found  some  that  seemed  to 
think  that  it  was  sin.  The  law  in  itself  is  not 
sin,  it  is  a  right  thing.  It  is  a  good  thing,  a  holy 
thing,  a  righteous  thing  when  it  is  properly  under- 
stood and  properly  lived  up  to.  It  is  a  good 
thing  in  that  it  reveals  sin,  and  further,  in  that 
it  reveals  the  exceeding  sinfulness  of  sin. 

Then  he  goes  on  to  say  in  a  very  interesting 
way  in  this  eighth  and  in  the  ninth  verse :  "Sin, 
finding  occasion,  wrought  in  me  through  the  com- 
118 


Character  and  Purpose  of  the  Law    1 1 9 

mandment  all  manner  of  coveting ;  for  apart  from 
the  law  sin  is  dead.  And  I  was  alive  apart  from 
the  law  once;  but  when  the  commandment  came, 
sin  revived  and  I  died;  and  the  commandment 
which  was  unto  life,  this  I  found  to  be  unto 
death ;  for  sin,  finding  occasion,  through  the  com- 
mandment beguiled  me  and  through  it  slew  me." 

We  saw  back  yonder  that  sin  was  not  imputed 
where  there  was  no  law.  It  was  there,  but  it  had 
not  been  imputed.  That  is  what  he  means  to 
teach  here — that,  until  the  law  came,  there  was  no 
sin.  It  was  not  imputed,  but  when  the  law  came 
sin  was  revived  in  that  the  law  pointed  out  that 
which  was  displeasing  to  God,  both  directly  and 
by  reason  of  the  fact  that  it  revealed  the  holiness 
of  God  Himself. 

And  so  with  us  to-day.  The  law  is  used  to- 
day as  the  discoverer  and  revealer  of  sin,  but 
when  it  has  revealed  sin  to  us,  the  law  has  noth- 
ing further  to  do  with  us.  Our  responsibility  is 
to  deal  with  the  things  that  the  law  has  revealed, 
and  that  is  the  final  issue  that  has  to  be  settled  on 
the  cross. 

Next,  let  us  take  the  argument — "the  law  of 
good  and  evil."  Begin  with  the  fourteenth  verse, 
"For  we  know  that  the  law  is  spiritual ;  but  I  am 
carnal,  sold  under  sin."  We  have  had  in  our  past 
studies  certain  great  pivot  words.  Now  we  have 
another  one  of  them.  It  is  a  word  that  is  used 
over  and  over  again  in  Paul's  writings  in  his  vari- 
ous Epistles,  and  we  need  a  good  and  thorough 


1 20    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

and  accurate  understanding  of  the  meaning  of  the 
word  "carnal." 

There  are  two  Greek  words  from  which  we  get 
our  English  word  carnal,  and  these  two  Greek 
words,  while  they  look  alike,  and  sound  alike,  are 
very  different.  The  first  is  the  word  sarkikos, 
which  means  being  under  the  control  of  the  ani- 
mal appetites.  The  other  word,  which  is  trans- 
lated carnal,  is  the  Greek  word  sarkinos,  the 
difference  lying  in  one  letter,  but  it  is  a  vastly 
different  word.  This  word  sarkinos  refers  to 
the  material  out  of  which  a  thing  is  made.  It  de- 
notes simply  the  material  of  which  human  nature 
itself  is  composed.  Paul  says,  "I  am  carnal." 
What  does  he  mean?  Does  he  mean  to  say  that 
he  was  living  a  life  under  the  control  of  his 
animal  appetites  ?  He  an  inspired  mxan !  That  is 
the  way  that  the  world  is  oftentimes  comforting 
itself  in  its  low  life  of  sin,  and  certainly  that  is 
the  way  in  which  many  Christian  people  excuse 
themselves  for  living  a  life  of  sin.  They  say, 
"Well,  Paul  said  that  he  was  carnal,  and  if  Paul 
was  living  a  carnal  life,  why,  I  do  not  see 
how  I  could  expect  to  live  any  other  life  than 
that." 

Is  that  what  the  Apostle  means?  No!  That 
is  not  what  he  says.  If  that  is  what  he  means, 
then  this  word  carnal  here  translated  carnal  in 
our  English  would  be  the  word  sarkikos,  which 
means  being  controlled  by  fleshly,  sinful  appetites. 
But  it  is  not  the  word  sarkikos.    It  is  sarkinos, 


Character  and  Purpose  of  the  Law   121 

which  means,  "I  still  have  the  material  that  is 
susceptible  to  sin.  I  still  have  this  old  flesh  life 
to  deal  with.  I  still  have  to  reckon  with  this 
nature  of  mine,  which  is  tending  ever  toward 
sin." 

That  is  what  he  means,  and  he  does  not  mean, 
and  do  not  let  us  ever  accuse  the  Apostle  Paul 
of  teaching,  that  he  got  no  higher  in  this  seventh 
chapter  than  a  life  mastered  by  sinful  appetites, 
for  it  is  not  so.  He  was  living  the  sarkinos  life, 
a  life  that  tabernacles  yet  awhile  in  the  flesh,  but 
a  life  that  had  gotten  the  victory  over  the  ap- 
petites of  this  old  sinful  flesh,  and  was  keeping 
it  under  subjection  by  the  power  of  the  indwell- 
ing spirit. 

Adam,  when  he  was  put  in  the  Garden  of  Eden, 
was  given  the  sarkinos  life.  He  yielded  to  the 
tempter,  and  fell  into  the  sarkikos  life.  He  was 
mastered  by  the  appetite  that  came  from  the  ma- 
terial that  God  gave  him. 

Now,  we  do  not  inherit  the  nature  of  the  un- 
fallen  Adam.  We  do  not  trace  our  inheritance 
back  beyond  the  fall.  We  inherit  the  nature  of 
the  fallen  Adam.  We  inherit  the  sarkikos  life. 
That  is  where  we  get  our  start,  and  that  is  where 
we  are  found  in  our  unregenerate  state.  Re- 
generation comes  in  and  prepares  the  way  for 
that  other  life.  Christ  enthroned  in  the  human 
heart  changes  the  sarkikos  to  sarkinos. 

Now,  I  think  that  this  point  is  very  important, 
because  there  are  two  classes  of  teachers  in  the 


122    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

world  to-day  that  are  teaching  hoHness.  One 
teaches  that  hohness  is  the  eradication  of  the  en- 
tire Adamic  nature,  taking  the  whole  business 
outside  of  us;  not  only  transforming  the  spirit, 
but  the  flesh,  and  not  only  transforming  it,  but 
eradicating  every  vestige  of  the  Adamic  nature 
that  is  within  the  flesh.  That  is  a  tremendously 
dangerous  thing,  when  a  man  comes  to  believe 
that  all  sin  is  without,  and  that  anything  that 
originates  within  is  not  sin;  the  next  thing  is  in- 
deed sin  and  disgrace  and  ruin. 

Now,  we  find  further  in  this  argument  in  the 
seventh  chapter  that  the  Apostle  brings  out  the 
idea  of  a  dual  life.  He  has  been  hinting  at  it 
up  to  this  time.  There  are  two  powers  at  work 
in  one  body :  one  is  flesh,  the  other  is  Spirit ;  one 
is  Jesus  Christ  by  the  Spirit,  the  other  is  the 
devil.  Now,  the  Apostle's  argument  is  that  these 
two  powers  are  at  perpetual  war  with  each  other ; 
one  dwelling  in  the  flesh,  the  other  dwelling  in 
the  Spirit;  the  flesh  warring  against  the  Spirit, 
the  Spirit  warring  against  the  flesh. 

Is  that  not  your  experience?  God  knows  that 
is  my  experience;  not  because  I  want  it  to  be, 
but  because  I  know  it  is.  I  know  that  there 
is  a  perpetual  warfare  going  on;  that  in  me  there 
is  something  that  wants  to  obey  the  devil,  and  at 
the  same  time  there  is,  since  my  salvation,  that 
which  wishes  to  do  right  and  be  right.  I  know 
that,  and  I  know  that  it  is  very  hard  for  me 
to  keep  from  yielding  to  the  desire  to  do  wrong ; 


Character  and  Purpose  of  the  Law   123 

there  is  something  in  me  that  wants  to  obey  the 
devil,  but  I  know  that  it  is  possible  for  me  to 
overcome  the  demands  of  the  devil  and  triumph 
over  sin,  and,  not  by  my  own  strength,  but  by  the 
indwelling  Spirit,  I  am  able  to  do  it. 

But  the  Apostle  Paul  says,  ''When  I  would  do 
good  evil  is  present."  Now,  Paul  is  not  giving 
an  experience  here.  He  is  stating  a  condition  of 
the  regenerated  soul  when  simply  left  to  itself; 
when  it  trusts  itself.   - 

The  regenerate  soul  is  yet  hampered  and  held 
down.  Regeneration  in  itself,  with  nothing  else 
to  rely  upon,  will  not  bring  forth  the  fruit  of 
righteousness. 

When  a  man  says,  "Oh,  regeneration  is 
enough!"  I  say,  it  is  not  enough.  I  think  Evan 
Hopkins  has  put  that  perhaps  as  well  as  any  man 
can.  He  uses  this  illustration.  He  says,  the 
natural  condition  of  iron  is,  first,  black,  then  hard, 
and  then  cold.  But  when  the  heat  is  applied  to 
the  iron  one  cannot  say  any  more  than  it  is  black 
and  cold  and  hard.  It  is  the  same  iron,  but  it 
is  not  black,  nor  cold,  nor  hard.  What  makes 
the  difference?  It  is  the  heat  that  has  changed 
it,  and  so  long  as  it  has  the  heat  it  will  be 
changed. 

The  saved  soul  is  regenerated,  but  it  taber- 
nacles in  the  flesh,  the  tendency  of  which  is  to- 
ward evil,  but  when  the  heat  and  the  fire  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  perpetually  burn  in  the  soul,  then 
this  flesh  itself  is  brought  under  the  mastery  of 


1 24    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

the  heat,  and  it  is  not  what  it  was.  But  let  the 
fire  die  out,  and  then  there  is  the  same  con- 
dition. 

Peter,  on  the  boat,  saw  something  that  looked 
like  a  ghost,  and  recognized  that  it  was  Jesus, 
and  he  said,  "Lord,  if  it  be  Thou,  bid  me  come 
to  Thee,"  and  then  he  heard  the  word  ''come," 
and  when  he  heard  it  he  leaped  out  and  walked 
upon  the  sea.  You  say  that  God  performed  a 
miracle.  "Not  that,"  says  Mr.  Hopkins.  "He 
did  not  walk  upon  the  sea.  He  walked  upon  Jesus 
Christ's  'come.'  He  walked  upon  faith.  Jesus 
Christ  flung  out  His  word  'come'  and  it  caught  up 
Peter's  feet." 

There  are  two  regiments  encamped  in  barracks ; 
one  regiment  on  the  lower  floor,  the  other  above. 
After  a  while  this  regiment  on  the  lower  floor 
gets  obstreperous  so  that  there  is  no  peace,  no 
rest,  and  the  men  upstairs  look  down  on  the  men 
downstairs  and  say,  "Keep  quiet,  down  there!" 
The  ones  downstairs  say,  "We  will  make  all  the 
racket  we  please,"  and  so  on  it  goes. 

That  is  the  average  life  of  the  average  Chris- 
tian. He  is  saved — regenerated — but  there  are 
the  two  natures.  There  is  the  nature  upstairs  and 
the  nature  downstairs.  The  average  Christian  is 
just  content  with  drifting  along.  We  say  to  this 
old  flesh  life,  "I  wish  you  would  keep  quiet." 
The  flesh  life  says,  "You  attend  to  your  own 
business."  This  is  the  war  that  is  going  on  in 
the  life  of  the  Christian. 


Character  and  Purpose  of  the  Law    125 

This  is  the  Hfe  of  which  the  Apostle  is  speak- 
ing when  he  is  describing  here  the  condition  of 
the  soul  regenerated  when  left  to  itself. 

Thank  God,  there  is  another  life.  Let  us  go 
back  to  our  illustration  of  the  soldiers  in  bar- 
racks. Those  men  upstairs  find  that  they  are 
powerless  to  keep  those  men  downstairs  under 
control,  and  so  they  reason  within  themselves  and 
say,  'There  is  an  officer  out  yonder  who  can 
command  everything  here.  Let  us  call  him  in  and 
tell  him  about  it."  And  they  call  the  officer  and 
tell  him  that  they  cannot  have  any  peace;  that 
they  wish  he  would  stop  those  fellows,  and  just 
stay  in  and  master  things.  Now,  what  follows? 
He  says  to  the  fellows  on  the  bottom  floor,  "You 
get  into  your  bunks  and  go  to  sleep  and  keep 
still."  They  crawl  in  and  quiet  down,  and  he 
is  the  master  of  the  situation.  They  are  bound 
to  obey  him,  and  so  there  is  no  more  trouble; 
now  there  are  victory,  peace,  and  joy. 

Now,  that  is  the  life  of  victory.  Here  is  the 
devil  tabernacled  in  this  flesh  with  us,  and  he 
is  determined  to  keep  up  a  perpetual  war  with 
the  Spirit,  and  he  is  going  to  give  us  all  sorts 
of  trouble,  and  in  our  own  strength  we  try  to 
keep  him  down,  but  we  cannot;  but  as  we  go 
over  into  the  eighth  chapter  of  Romans  we  shall 
find  that  there  is  an  officer-of-the-day  in  charge, 
thank  God;  an  officer  who  has  got  more  power 
than  the  devil.  I  pity  the  man  who  thinks  that 
the  devil  has  got  as  much  power  as  God. 


126    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

When  we  see  that  we  cannot  live  the  life  by 
ourselves,  we  say  to  Him,  "Oh,  thou  officer,  come. 
Do  that  which  we  cannot  ourselves  do."  Then 
He  takes  the  scepter  in  His  hand  and  keeps  down 
the  devil  and  enables  the  child  of  God  to  live  a 
victorious  life. 


XIII 

THE  LIFE  OF  VICTORY— No.  i 
Ch.S 

I.  The  Foundation. 

1.  In  Christ. 

2.  For  the  Present. 

3.  From  the  Heart. 

II.  The  Contrast. 

I.  The  Life  of  the  Flesh. 

(a)  Mind  the  things  of  the  flesh. 

(b)  Enmity  against  God. 

(c)  Not  subject  to  His  Law. 

(d)  Cannot  please  God. 

In  studying  this  eighth  chapter  we  must  keep 
in  mind  the  teaching  of  the  seventh.  The  seventh 
chapter  reveals  to  us  the  average  Christian  life 
that  we  see  lived  before  us  every  day.  Alas, 
it  is  the  life  that  too  many  of  us  are  contented 
with.  It  is  the  up  and  down  life.  The  eighth 
chapter  reveals  to  us  a  better  life,  and  gives  to 
us  the  one  way  for  living  this  better  life.  It  is 
this  eighth  chapter  that  we  are  now  to  study,  and 
I  pray  God  that  each  of  us  may  get  the  lesson 
out  of  it  that  is  most  needed  in  our  own  lives. 

First,  let  us  see  the  foundation  of  the  life  of 
victory. 

127 


128    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

We  understand,  of  course,  that  there  is  no  life 
of  victory  without  a  proper  foundation.  The 
foundation  that  Paul  builds  upon  here  is  found 
in  this  first  verse.  The  foundation  for  the  life 
of  victory  is,  first  of  all,  in  Christ  Jesus. 

The  man  or  woman  who  is  not  rooted  in  Christ 
Jesus  need  never  contemplate  living  the  life  of 
victory.  There  is  no  victory  over  sin  to  the  man 
or  woman  who  is  not  founded  upon  Christ,  and 
the  quicker  the  world  learns  this  fact,  the  better 
the  world  is  going  to  be.  When  the  world  thor- 
oughly realizes  that  truth  it  will  cease  to  depend 
on  reformation.  It  will  cease  in  any  sense  to 
hold  up  to  men,  as  a  hope  for  a  life  of  victory, 
the  mere  resolve  of  their  hearts  to  live  a  better 
life. 

If  I  may  speak  out  of  my  own  heart,  I  want  to 
say  that  I  have  of  late  been  more  and  more  con- 
vinced of  the  folly  of  attempting  to  build  up  this 
world  in  righteous  living  by  a  reformatory  proc- 
ess. I  do  not  mean  that  we  are  not  to  be  inter- 
ested in  public  reforms,  but  I  do  mean  to  say  that 
these  things  are  to  be  very  incidental;  that  the 
only  thing  in  this  world  that  can  reform  the  com- 
munity and  the  people  is  the  thing  that  is  to  re- 
form the  individual,  and  that  is  a  life  hid  in  Jesus 
Christ.  Christ  Jesus  must  be  the  bed-rock,  and 
if  we  have  not  Christ  Jesus  in  our  hearts,  and 
if  we  are  not  wholly  and  completely  relying  upon 
Him  as  our  foundation,  there  is  no  need  that  we 
should  consider  further  the  life  of  victory,  for 


The  Life  of  Victory  129 

there  is  no  life  of  victory  without  Jesus  Christ, 
and  then  we  want  to  realize  that  this  life  of  vic- 
tory is  for  the  present  and  not  the  future  simply. 

Too  many  of  us  have  been  looking  forward  to 
the  time  when  we  would  be  free,  when  the  dead 
are  to  be  judged;  then  we  have  in  some  way 
trusted  that  we  shall  be  set  free  from  all  the 
entanglements  of  the  flesh  and  enter  upon  a  life 
of  victory. 

The  Apostle  holds  up  to  us  the  idea  of  present 
victory,  based  upon  the  fact  that  Jesus  Christ  is 
the  foundation.  'There  is  therefore  no  condem- 
nation to  them  that  are  in  Christ  Jesus."  We 
do  not  have  to  wait  until  we  die  to  get  deliver- 
ance. We  do  not  have  to  wait  until  we  die  to 
have  the  yoke  of  bondage  broken.  We  do  not 
have  to  wait  until  we  die  to  be  delivered  from  the 
things  that  bind  and  grind.  Thank  God,  we  have 
the  power  to  get  deliverance  now. 

In  the  provision  of  God  deliverance  comes  with 
regeneration.  It  is  a  privilege  for  us  to  appro- 
priate when  we  will,  but  so  many  of  us  fail  to 
realize  the  fact  that  there  is  in  regeneration  com- 
plete and  perfect  deliverance  from  the  things  that 
bind  us  to  this  earth.  It  does  seem  to  me  that 
we  need  to  do  more  preaching  along  the  line 
of  the  fullness  of  the  provision  that  God  has 
made  for  the  soul  and  the  life  in  the  one  great 
work  on  the  cross. 

Then,  too,  we  need  to  realize  that  this  deliver- 
ance comes  through  surrender  to  the  Lord  Jesus 


130    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

Christ  for  the  work  of  His  purifying  grace,  and 
that  is  clearly  seen  in  this  one  little  word  "there- 
fore." 'There  is  therefore  no  condemnation." 
This  word  "therefore,"  to  be  properly  under- 
stood, must  connect  the  25th  verse  of  the  seventh 
chapter  with  the  first  verse  of  the  eighth. 

Paul  closes  up  the  seventh  chapter  with  these 
words:  "Oh,  wretched  man  that  I  am!  Who 
shall  deliver  me  out  of  the  body  of  this  death? 
I  thank  God  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  So 
then  I  myself  with  the  mind  serve  the  law  of 
God;  but  with  the  flesh  the  law  of  sin.  There- 
fore there  is  now  no  condemnation  to  them  that 
are  in  Christ  Jesus."  The  word  "mind"  should 
properly  be  translated  "heart." 

Deliverance  from  bondage  comes  by  the  way 
of  the  heart.  We  saw  in  the  seventh  chapter 
that  there  are  two  powers  at  work  in  the  same 
individual,  the  power  of  the  Spirit  and  the  power 
of  the  flesh  or  the  devil.  And  there  is  a  per- 
petual warfare  between  these  two  powers,  and  in 
that  seventh  chapter  we  saw  that  at  one  time 
one  was  on  top  and  at  another  time  the  other 
was  on  top.  But  the  Apostle  closes  the  seventh 
chapter  with  the  statement  that  while  this  is  true, 
his  heart  was  set  on  God,  and  because  his  heart 
was  set  on  God  there  is  now  no  condemnation. 
We  can  easily  determine  whether  or  not  we  are 
in  the  attitude  of  deliverance.  That  is,  we  may 
not  have  received  the  complete  deliverance,  but 
we  can  at  least  understand  whether  or  not  we  are 


The  Life  of  Victory  131 

in  the  proper  attitude  to  receive  the  deHverance 
of  God.  That  attitude  is  determined  altogether 
by  our  hearts.  I  know  whether  or  not  my  heart 
is  stayed  upon  God.  I  know  whether  it  is  my 
chiefest  desire  to  serve  God,  and  you  know 
whether  or  not  it  is  your  chiefest  desire  to  serve 
God,  and  if  that  be  true  God  accepts  that  earnest 
desire  of  the  heart  to  please  Him;  He  accepts 
that  desire  and  registers  it  as  a  righteous  heart. 
God  gives  us  deliverance  according  to  the  appro- 
priation we  make  of  the  things  He  has  provided 
for  the  deliverance. 

And  so,  as  we  start  this  eighth  chapter,  let 
us  understand  that  the  whole  question  of  victory 
is  dependent,  first  of  all,  upon  the  foundation  that 
we  have  for  it.  If  Jesus  Christ  is  the  foundation 
upon  which  we  shall  attempt  to  build,  then  there 
is  hope;  but  if  Jesus  Christ  is  not,  and  we  can 
determine  that  question  by  the  attitude  of  our 
hearts,  then  the  first  thing  for  us  to  do  is  to  get 
in  right  relation  with  God  through  Jesus  Christ. 
The  first  thing  to  do  is  to  get  right  with  Him, 
and  we  get  right  with  Him  only  when  we  get 
right  with  Jesus. 

Presuming  that  we  are  in  right  relation  with 
Christ,  that  He  is  our  foundation,  that  our  hearts 
are  fixed  upon  Him,  that  our  chiefest  desire  is 
to  serve  God,  then  we  are  prepared  to  go  fur- 
ther into  the  study  of  the  means  and  method  and 
result  of  a  life  of  victory,  all  of  which  is  told  in 
this  wonderful  eighth  chapter. 


132    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

The  next  thing  that  the  Apostle  shows  is  the 
contrast  between  the  Hfe  of  victory  and  defeat, 
and  it  is  very  interesting  to  note  the  character  of 
this  contrast;  the  contrast  between  defeat  and 
victory;  the  flesh  and  the  spirit,  as  he  de- 
nominates it. 

The  first  thing  you  will  note  is  concerning  the 
life  of  defeat,  or  the  life  of  the  flesh.  What 
is  the  life  of  the  flesh? 

What  is  the  character  of  the  life  of  the  flesh, 
or  the  defeated  Christian;  the  man  who  is  to- 
day up  and  to-morrow  down ;  what  is  the  general 
drift  of  this  man's  life?  It  is  that  he  minds  the 
things  of  the  flesh.  And  what  do  we  understand 
by  the  flesh?    Here  is  one  definition:  "Self." 

When  you  have  considered  self,  you  have  con- 
sidered the  flesh.  Anything  under  the  sun  that 
is  for  the  gratification  of  self  is  of  the  flesh 
alone.  The  man  who  is  a  defeated  man  in  his 
Christian  life  is  a  man  who  lives  for  the  things 
of  the  flesh ;  he  loves  the  things  of  the  flesh ;  he  is 
careful  about  the  things  of  the  flesh;  concerned 
about  the  things  of  the  flesh. 

Then,  in  the  next  place,  he  is  at  enmity  against 
God,  because  God  is  against  the  flesh ;  God  stands 
against  the  flesh  life;  God  is  tremendously  op- 
posed to  selfishness;  there  is  nothing  that  He 
hates  more  than  selfishness. 

n  that  be  true  I  do  not  see  how  God  can  put 
up  with  the  average  man  and  woman  in  the 
Church,  for  it  does  seem  to  me  that  Christian 


The  Life  of  Victory  133 

people,  of  all  people,  are  the  most  squeamish 
about  the  gratification  of  the  flesh. 

A  man  who  minds  the  things  of  the  flesh  can- 
not be  in  right  relation  to  God,  for  God  has  put 
Himself  in  the  exact  opposite  position  to  selfish- 
ness. Everything  that  God  has  is  at  the  disposal 
of  the  world.  Everything  that  He  ever  made  He 
made  for  somebody  else  to  enjoy.  Everything 
that  God  has  is  to  be  given  away  even  to  the  ex- 
tent of  giving  away  His  own  Son,  absolutely  turn- 
ing Him  loose  to  be  loved  and  sought  for  and 
enjoyed  by  the  world.  That  is  how  benevolent 
God  is.  That  is  the  way  God  has  put  Himself 
out  to  bless  and  honor  the  race  that  He  made,  and 
yet,  see  how  different  it  is  with  us. 

How  many  of  us  are  so  selfish  as  to  want  to 
enjoy  every  good  thing  that  we  can  get  our  hands 
on  for  ourselves.  If  we  build  a  fine  house,  we 
build  it  to  enjoy  it.  H  we  get  a  new  piece  of 
furniture,  it  is  that  we  may  enjoy  it;  we  never 
think  about  buying  it  that  somebody  else  may 
enjoy  it.  Whatever  we  get,  we  get  for  the  gratifi- 
cation and  comfort  of  ourselves,  and  yet  we  call 
ourselves  Christians,  and  sometimes  talk  about 
having  entered  the  life  of  victory.  I  am  afraid 
very  few  of  us  know  anything  about  the  life  of 
victory,  for  there  can  be  no  life  of  victory  until 
we  have  come  to  the  place  where  we  are,  like 
God,  unselfish  in  the  things  we  have  been  given. 

No  man  can  live  a  victorious  life  until  he  lives 
for  the  comfort  of  other  people ;  every  possession 


1 34    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

of  the  victorious  man  is  for  the  comfort  of  other 
people;  every  dollar  of  money  is  for  the  blessing 
of  other  people ;  every  talent  is  for  the  helping  of 
other  people;  and  if  I  know  anything  about  an 
unselfish  life,  it  consists  in  the  fact  that  a  man 
gives  his  life  for  others.  Jesus  Christ  never  could 
have  laid  claim  to  an  unselfish  life  if  He  had 
stopped  short  of  that,  and  however  much  we  may 
testify  or  lay  claims  to  exalted  position  in  Christ ; 
however  much  we  may  serve  or  give  money; 
however  loud  we  may  talk  and  proclaim — the 
real  test  of  the  life  of  victory  lies  in  the  extent 
to  which  a  man  gives  what  he  has  for  other 
people. 

I  think  one  of  the  clearest  and  most  blessed 
exhibitions  of  this  unselfish  life  of  victory  that  I 
know  anything  about  is  found  in  a  home  near 
Birmingham,  England;  the  home  of  the  Cad- 
burys.  It  is  a  most  magnificent  palace.  I  never 
saw  a  more  beautiful  place  in  my  life.  Thou- 
sands and  thousands  of  dollars  have  been  spent 
in  that  home.  You  may  say  that  it  is  selfishness 
to  spend  so  much  money  upon  a  home. 

Listen  to  the  rest  of  the  story.  Now  and  then, 
the  working  people  from  Birmingham  are  invited 
into  that  home  and  entertained  in  the  magnifi- 
cent hall,  where  a  great  pipe  organ  has  been  built. 
After  the  entertainment  and  the  reception  are 
over,  then  the  Word  of  God  is  opened  and  ex- 
pounded by  the  head  of  that  home.  Every  now 
and  then  working  people  are  invited  upon  those 


The  Life  of  Victory  135 

lawns  and  tea  is  served  and  other  refreshments; 
and  the  children  from  the  crowded  tenements 
meet  on  this  magnificent  lawn,  romp  and  play  and 
enjoy  the  fresh  air  and  the  companionship  of 
those  godly  people  whom  He  has  so  blessed  with 
worldly  abundance. 

That  is  what  I  call  an  unselfish  use  of  money. 
Mrs.  Cadbury  said  to  me  once :  "Why,  I  could 
never  think  of  enjoying  all  of  this  by  myself. 
The  only  reason  why  I  have  all  this  is  that  I  may 
use  it  to  bless  and  comfort  the  people  who  never 
would  have  a  chance  otherwise  to  see  it." 

That  is  the  way  to  spend  money.  Let  us  not 
talk  about  any  further  steps  in  the  life  of  victory 
until  we  have  stopped  long  enough  to  settle  this 
question  with  all  that  we  have:  whether  it  is 
talent,  or  money,  or  position,  or  what,  whatever 
we  have  is  for  the  benefit  of  the  people.  There 
can  be  no  victory  until  we  conquer  at  that  point. 
When  I  think  of  this  I  tremble  for  our  own 
church  people.  I  tremble  for  myself.  I  wonder 
if  I  have  put  myself  at  the  disposal  of  the  needy 
about  me.  I  wonder  if  everything  that  I  have 
is  for  the  disposal  of  other  people  or  if  I  am 
keeping  back  part  of  it  for  the  gratification  of  my 
own  poor  selfish  life.  God  help  me,  if  that  is  true, 
never  to  strike  another  blow,  nor  to  speak  another 
word,  until  I  conquer  at  that  point. 


XIV 

THE  LIFE  OF  VICTORY— No.  2 

Ch.S 

We  have  been  considering  the  life  of  self. 
Now  let  us  consider  the  life  of  victory: 

I.  Mind  the  Things  of  the  Spirit. 

II.  Under  the  Domination  of  the  Spirit. 

III.  Spirit  Mortifies  Deeds  of  the  Body. 

IV.  Quickens  Bodies. 

First,  we  saw  that  the  life  of  defeat  or  of  the 
flesh  meant  minding  the  things  of  the  flesh. 

Secondly,  enmity  against  God. 

Thirdly,  not  subject  to  the  law  of  God,  neither 
can  be. 

Fourthly,  cannot  please  God.  That  is  true  of 
the  man  who  lives  after  the  flesh. 

Now  then,  the  man  who  lives  after  the  Spirit 
minds  the  things  of  the  Spirit,  is  under  the  dom- 
ination of  the  Spirit.  The  Spirit  puts  to  death 
the  deeds  of  his  body,  the  Spirit  will  quicken  his 
mortal  body. 

First,  minds  the  things  of  the  Spirit.  Awhile 
ago  we  saw  him  minding  the  things  of  the  flesh. 
Now  he  is  getting  victory;  has  given  up  the 
136 


The  Life  of  Victory  137 

things  of  the  flesh,  and  he  finds  himself  mind- 
ing, concerned  about,  desiring  the  things  of  the 
Spirit. 

Now  it  is  very  easy  to  find  out  what  the  things 
of  the  Spirit  are.  We  know  what  the  Spirit  of 
God  is  concerned  about ;  that  is  a  very  easy  ques- 
tion for  us  to  settle.  What  is  He  concerned 
about  ?  What  is  He  here  in  this  world  for  ?  He 
is  here  first  of  all  to  save  lost  men.  Now,  the 
man  who  is  living  a  life  of  victory  finds  his  chief 
concern  the  salvation  of  lost  men.  That  is  the 
first  consideration,  and  not  only  during  revival 
meetings  or  Bible  Conferences,  but  all  the  time. 

Then,  the  Spirit  of  God  is  concerned  about 
building  up  souls  and  strengthening  them  in  every 
good  work.  He  is  concerned  about  the  comfort 
of  people ;  about  binding  broken  hearts ;  looking 
after  temporal  interests ;  helping  a  man  when  he 
is  down.  In  other  words,  he  is  concerned  about 
everything  that  looks  toward  the  interest  of 
humanity.  Is  that  true  of  us?  It  will  be  if  we 
have  entered  upon  this  life  of  victory.  It  will 
be  if  we  give  up  self  and  begin  to  look  to  God  for 
the  filling  of  His  Spirit. 

Then  Paul  says  we  are  under  the  domination 
of  the  Spirit.  If  the  Spirit  has  been  put  on  the 
throne,  it  is  very  easy  for  us  to  live  the  life  of 
victory.  If  self  is  on  the  throne,  there  is  no 
life  of  victory.  If  self  gets  off  and  the  Spirit 
gets  on  the  throne,  then  it  is  easy.  It  comes  when 
we  bow  our  knees  and  yield  absolutely  to  the 


138    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology- 
Holy  Ghost.    When  He  takes  complete  and  per- 
fect control,  all  of  self  passes  out. 

Then  the  Spirit  will  quicken  our  mortal  bodies ; 
He  will  awaken  powers  that  are  not  our  own. 
He  will  produce  in  these  bodies  of  ours  feelings 
and  longings  and  aspirations  to  do  and  to  be 
that  we  never  felt  before. 

"For  the  law  of  the  Spirit  of  life  in  Christ 
Jesus  made  me  free  from  the  law  of  sin  and 
death."  Everything  has  laws  that  govern  it.  Elec- 
tricity, steam,  psychology,  science  of  every  kind, 
are  all  governed  by  certain  fixed  laws,  and  so  it  is 
with  the  Spirit.  He  operates  by  certain  fixed  laws, 
and  if  we  would  enjoy  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit,  we 
must  understand  and  appropriate,  and  live  up  to 
law. 

Now,  what  is  the  law  of  the  Spirit?  First, 
definite  dedication  of  one's  life  to  God.  The 
Holy  Spirit  will  not  operate  upon  the  life  of  any- 
one until  there  is  that  complete  and  definite  dedi- 
cation of  himself  and  all  of  his  powers  to  God. 
So  long  as  one  holds  back  anything  from  God, 
there  will  be  no  operation  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
in  his  life.  He  must  have  an  absolutely  sur- 
rendered heart  and  life. 

Then,  in  the  next  place,  there  must  be  definite 
supplication  to  God  for  the  life  of  victory,  then 
there  must  be  definite  and  complete  appropria- 
tion of  the  Spirit  of  God  for  victory.  These 
three  things  must  be:  Dedication,  supplication, 
appropriation.     Definitely  dedicate  to  God  these 


The  Life  of  Victory  139 

bodies  with  all  the  faculties  they  contain.  After 
dedication  must  come  supplication,  asking  God 
for  the  thing  that  we  desire,  definite  asking  of 
God,  the  continuous  asking  of  God  for  the  thing 
we  are  seeking;  and  then  definite  appropriation 
from  God  of  the  things  we  are  asking  for. 

There  can  never  be  any  proper  domination  of 
the  life  until  there  is  a  definite  dedication;  until 
there  is  the  willingness  to  do  what  God  wants 
us  to  do.  I  was  kept  out  of  the  ministry  for  years 
because  I  was  not  willing.  I  thought  God  wanted 
me  to  go  to  China  as  a  medical  missionary.  I 
wish  I  had  known  then  what  I  know  now.  If 
I  had  known  God  then  I  would  have  said,  ''If 
God  wants  me  to  go  to  China  that  is  the  place  for 
me  to  go."  Finally  I  could  not  stand  it  any 
longer,  and  I  gave  myself  for  a  medical  mis- 
sionary, but  before  I  got  home  God  took  that  off 
my  heart.  When  I  got  willing  to  go  to  China 
God  gave  me  another  work  to  do.  God  was  hold- 
ing that  over  me  to  master  me,  and  when  He 
mastered  me  at  that  point,  then  He  gave  me  my 
life  plan,  and  I  never  would  have  been  able  to  do 
what  the  Lord  has  permitted  me  to  do  in  His 
service,  if  it  had  not  been  that  at  the  very  begin- 
ning of  my  career  I  gave  all  to  Him. 

The  law  of  the  Spirit  is  the  law  that  gives 
power.  Submit  to  the  Holy  Ghost  and  you  will 
have  victory,  for  when  He  gets  on  the  throne 
there  is  nothing  else  for  one  but  victory.  Why 
should  anybody  hold  back  his  life   from  God? 


140    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

God  cannot  fail,  and  He  will  not  let  us  fail.  If 
you  will  put  your  hand  in  His  and  let  Him  direct 
there  must  be  victory. 

Why,  look  at  Moses.  He  was  coming  along 
from  where  he  had  been  minding  the  sheep.  He 
met  God.  God  was  getting  ready  to  give  him  the 
plan  of  his  life.  Moses  didn't  know  it.  God 
said  to  Moses,  ''What  have  you  in  your  hand?" 

Notice,  God  did  not  start  out  by  saying,  "I 
am  going  to  make  you  the  greatest  man  in  the 
world."  Moses  would  have  said,  "Yes,  yes,  that 
is  just  what  I  want."  God  started  with  the  sim- 
plest thing  he  could  touch,  and  these  are  the 
things  that  hold  us  away  from  victory.  God 
began  with  Moses'  walking  stick. 

"Moses,  what  is  that  you  have  in  your  hand?" 

"A  stick." 

"Well,  lay  it  down." 

Why  should  Moses  lay  that  stick  down?  It 
had  not  been  doing  him  any  harm.  He  needed 
it  to  climb  the  mountains  with.  He  had  gotten 
it  somewhere  and  crooked  it  to  have  it  just  as 
he  wanted  it.  But  he  laid  it  down,  and  it  turned 
into  a  snake.  I  suppose  Moses  was  frightened. 
God  told  him  to  take  it  up  by  the  tail. 

I  have  no  doubt  Moses  thought,  "I  don't  under- 
stand this.  I  had  it  when  it  was  a  stick  doing 
nobody  any  harm,  and  I  obeyed  Him,  and  now 
He  is  punishing  me  for  my  obedience."  But 
thank  God  Moses  did  what  God  told  him  to  do, 
and  the  moment  he  took  it  God  turned  it  back 


The  Life  of  Victory  141 

into  a  stick,  and  it  was  the  very  same  stick  that 
he  had  held  a  while  ago. 

God  revealed  to  Moses  that  a  stick,  when  it  is 
all  that  one  has  and  is  laid  down  and  wholly  given 
up  to  God  to  work  on  as  He  sees  fit,  and  taken 
up  only  at  the  command  of  God,  that  that  same 
stick  when  lifted  over  the  rolling  sea  drives  back 
the  waters  and  dries  the  passage. 

If  Moses  had  not  done  that  he  would  have 
continued  only  to  mind  sheep,  and  that  old  stick 
would  never  have  done  an\thing  but  help  him  to 
walk  and  drive  the  sheep.  There  never  would 
have  been  any  power  in  the  life  of  Moses. 

My  brethren,  the  question  is,  are  we  willing 
to  lay  down  that  which  we  have  in  our  hand — 
our  all?  Are  we  willing  to  let  God  work  on  it? 
Are  we  willing  to  let  God  turn  the  thing  that 
we  have  loved,  and  which  has  helped  us,  into 
something  that  He  wants?  Are  we  willing  to 
take  it  up  and  do  with  it  what  He  directs?  If 
we  are,  then  we  may  expect  our  little  sticks  to  be- 
come rods  of  power. 

Now  then,  let  us  take  another  aspect  of  the  life 
of  victory — its  results.  Take  the  fifteenth  verse : 
"For  ye  received  not  the  spirit  of  bondage  again 
unto  fear ;  but  ye  received  the  spirit  of  adop- 
tion, whereby  we  cry,  Abba,  Father."  Here  ap- 
pears another  one  of  these  pivot  words — "Adop- 
tion." What  does  it  mean?  It  comes  from  two 
Greek  words  meaning,  "placing  one  in  the  posi- 
tion of  a  son." 


142     Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

There  was  an  old  Roman  law  at  the  time  when 
Paul  wrote  this  Epistle  that  an  adopted  son  was 
not  only  expected  to  share  the  benefits  of  his 
adopted  father,  but  he  was  also  expected  to  share 
the  burdens  of  his  adopted  father  to  the  fullest 
extent. 

Now,  Paul  takes  that  to  explain  the  relation 
that  we  have  to  God  through  Jesus  Christ  His 
Son.  We  are  adopted  sons  of  God,  and  as 
adopted  sons  of  God  we  are  not  only  expected 
to  enjoy  the  privileges,  but  we  are  to  share  the 
burdens.  When  we  enter  the  life  of  victory  we 
are  going  to  be  just  as  much  concerned  about 
the  burdens  of  the  Father's  business  as  we  are 
about  the  blessing. 

If  this  be  true,  how  few  of  us  have  entered  the 
life  of  victory!  We  are  all  anxious  to  get  the 
blessings ;  how  few  of  us  are  anxious  to  get  the 
burdens  !  We  all  want  to  get  the  front  seat  at  the 
Conference,  but  few  of  us  are  willing  to  go  back 
into  the  kitchen  and  cook  so  that  the  rest  may  en- 
joy staying  there. 

Now  take  verse  16,  the  verse  of  assur- 
ance. "The  Spirit  Himself  beareth  witness 
with  our  spirit  that  we  are  the  children  of 
God." 

Is  there  a  man  who  is  in  doubt  about  his  sal- 
vation? If  so,  let  him  apply  to  Him  who  has 
been  enthroned  in  his  heart,  if  He  has  been.  Let 
him  cry:  "Oh,  Holy  Spirit,  bear  witness  to  my 
spirit.     Let  me  know  if  I  am  a  child  of  God." 


The  Life  of  Victory  143 

No  man  who  earnestly  does  that  will  come  away 
with  any  doubt  about  it. 

Then  there  is  the  minification  of  suffering  in 
verses  17  and  18.  The  man  living  the  life  of  vic- 
tory is  not  defeated  by  the  suffering  of  this  life, 
no  matter  what  kind  of  suffering  comes  to  him. 
These  things  do  not  defeat  him.  They  may  pain 
him,  but  he  looks  beyond  these  days  of  physical, 
mental,  or  spiritual  suffering  to  the  day  when  he 
shall  at  last  be  crowned  with  the  glory  of  Jesus 
his  Lord. 

Then  again  we  have  divine  aid  in  prayer  (v. 
26,  2'^').  The  man  who  is  living  the  life  of  victory 
is  living  the  prayer  life,  because  the  Spirit  is 
constantly  forming  in  Him  prayers  that  are  after 
the  will  of  God,  and  while  he  may  not  be  con- 
stantly dropping  down  on  his  knees,  he  is  in  that 
relation  with  the  Holy  Spirit  where  the  prayer  is 
formed  in  his  desire,  and  as  he  goes  about  his 
business  there  is  the  prayer  desire  that  goes  out  to 
God.  That  is  the  man  who  gets  things  from 
heaven;  whose  life  is  power;  that  is  the  man  the 
devil  hates  and  hunts  to  damn  if  he  can,  but 
thank  God,  he  cannot  overcome  a  soul  that  has 
been  thus  given  over  to  God. 

Then  there  is  resignation  to  the  providence  of 
God  (verses  28-37).  ^^  i^  the  man  who  is  living 
the  victorious  life  who  is  resigned  to  the  provi- 
dence of  God.  This  does  not  mean  that  we  are 
not  going  to  have  heart  pangs.  It  does  not  mean 
that  the  mother  who  sees  her  child  dying  is  not  to 


144    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

weep,  but  it  means  that  through  her  tears  she  is  to 
look  up  with  a  smile  of  reconciliation  to  a  well- 
doing Father.  It  means  that,  in  all  things  that 
come  to  us  in  our  daily  life  of  struggle  and  toil, 
there  is  the  consciousness  of  the  fact  that  God  is 
working  out  through  these  things  the  develop- 
ment of  our  spiritual  lives. 

The  life  of  victory  results  in  bold  security 
(verses  38-39).  "Neither  death  nor  life  nor  an- 
gels nor  principalities,  nor  things  present,  nor 
things  to  come,  nor  powers,  nor  height,  nor  depth, 
nor  any  other  creature  shall  be  able  to  separate 
us  from  the  love  of  God  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus." 

Talk  about  the  strong  pledge  of  the  Masonic 
brethren!  The  strongest  pledge  of  all  is  the 
pledge  that  is  made  to  us  in  these  verses.  That  is 
the  pledge  of  God's  love.  The  strongest  thing 
that  can  be  imagined  by  the  human  mind  is  the 
love  of  God.  I  tell  you,  when  we  come  down  to 
the  place  of  suffering  and  when  our  souls  are 
tried,  there  is  nothing  that  will  bring  more  com- 
fort than  to  fall  back  on  Romans  8:38-39.  Oh, 
the  love  of  God  for  His  children!  Oh,  the  love 
of  God  for  me  as  one  of  His  children !  Oh,  He 
loves  me  enough  to  plan  for  the  life  that  I  live, 
to  make  it  a  success ;  to  make  it  overcoming ;  to 
make  it  victorious.  God  wants  it  to  be  victorious 
more  than  I  do.  God  is  baring  His  very  heart 
and  pouring  out  His  love  in  the  plans  that  He  has 
for  victory  in  the  life  that  He  has  given  to  me.  I 
know  it,  I  feel  it,  and  I  thank  God  for  it. 


XV 

ISRAEL'S  REJECTION 

Chs.  9-10 

We  now  come  to  the  consideration  of  the  les- 
sons that  are  taught  in  the  dispensation  concerning 
Israel.  Let  us  first  get  fixed  in  our  minds  what 
we  mean  by  dispensational  teaching.  We  mean 
that  which  refers  either  to  a  period  of  time  or 
to  a  people.  In  this  case  it  is  teaching  with  ref- 
erence to  the  Jews  as  a  people;  to  God's  chosen 
people,  and  these  three  chapters,  nine,  ten,  and 
eleven,  relate  primarily,  everything  in  them,  to 
Israel.  But  when  I  say  that,  I  am  not  at  all  to 
be  understood  as  saying  that  there  is  nothing  in 
these  three  chapters  for  us,  for  there  is  much  for 
us,  much  that  we  have  real  need  of,  much  that  we 
are  expected  to  appropriate,  but  primarily  these 
three  chapters  relate  to  Israel.  We  come  in,  just 
as  we  do  in  all  dispensational  truth,  for  that  part 
which  is  general.  All  dispensational  truth  is  sus- 
ceptible to  general  application.  The  lessons 
which  we  are  privileged  to  gather  from  such 
teaching  are  many,  and  they  are  just  as  much  for 
us  as  for  the  people  for  whom  they  were  pri- 
marily written,  or  who  passed  through  the  ex- 
145 


146    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

periences  that  are  related.  But  let  us  keep  in 
mind  that  the  Apostle  is  talking  distinctly  to  and 
about  God's  Israel,  and  not  the  Gentile  world, 
not  the  Church,  not  the  Christian,  as  we  consider 
the  Christian,  but  to  the  Jew;  to  God's  chosen 
people,  and  if  we  will  keep  these  things  in  our 
mind  we  will  be  able  to  understand  many  of  the 
perplexing  things   in   this   wonderful   Epistle. 

At  this  time  we  have  the  rejection  of  Israel, 
chapters  9-10. 

/.  Paul's  Anxiety  for  Israel 

1.  Kinsman. 

2.  Anathema. 

3.  Pain. 

These  three  words  express  largely  the  force  of 
these  first  three  verses — Paul's  anxiety  for  his 
people,  V.  I,  2,  3,  chapter  nine.  Here  are 
three  things  that  the  Apostle  declares  with  ref- 
erence to  the  people  to  whom  and  of  whom  he 
is  speaking. 

First,  they  are  his  kinsmen  in  the  flesh.  Paul 
is  not  ashamed  of  the  fact  that  he  is  a  Jew,  and 
he  is  not  ashamed  of  the  fact  that  they  are  his 
people.  I  have  known  people  who  were  ashamed 
of  their  own  people.  I  have  known  many  good 
people  to  try  to  deny  their  relatives,  especially  if 
they  are  poor.  I  do  not  know  of  any  more  con- 
temptible soul  than  that  one  which  is  ashamed  to 
acknowledge  his  people  because  of  their  poverty. 

The  Apostle  Paul  acknowledges  his  relationship 


Israel's  Rejection  147 

to  these  people,  his  brethren,  his  kinsmen,  accord- 
ing to  the  flesh. 

The  second  thing  is  that  he  could  see  himself 
anathema  from  Christ  for  this  people.  So 
anxious  is  he  about  their  salvation  that  he  could 
see  himself  a  cast-away  that  they  might  be  saved. 

The  next  thing  that  we  learn  is  that  this  long- 
ing that  he  has  for  their  salvation  is  of  such  a 
character  as  to  give  him  unceasing  pain  in  his 
heart.  I  know  good  people  who  claim  to  have 
reached  what  they  call  the  rest  of  faith  with 
respect  to  their  loved  ones  who  are  not  saved, 
which  is  an  experience  that  I  cannot  harmonize 
with  my  own  feelings  under  my  conception  of  the 
teaching  of  Christ. 

For  instance,  I  have  heard  a  mother  testify 
in  a  meeting:  "I  have  a  son  who  is  lost.  He 
is  in  sin.  He  is  low  down  in  sin.  He  is  an  awful 
sinner,  but  I  have  given  him  to  God,  and  I  now 
rest  the  case  with  Him.  I  have  no  more  anxiety 
about  it." 

I  never  hear  such  a  testimony  that  I  do  not 
say  that  it  is  contrary  to  the  spirit  that  we  see  de- 
scribed in  the  Scriptures.  You  remember  that 
woman  who  came  to  Jesus  with  a  broken  heart, 
whose  daughter  was  possessed  of  a  devil?  She 
did  not  have  "the  rest  of  faith"  concerning  her 
daughter.  She  came  with  broken,  throbbing 
heart,  and  she  would  not  let  go  until  Jesus  gave 
her  the  blessing. 

Paul  never  reached  the  experience  of  what  is 


148    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

called  "the  rest  of  faith,"  certainly  to  the  extent 
that  he  had  no  further  concern  about  such  mat- 
ters, for  he  had  unceasing  pain  in  his  heart  for  his 
people  "that  they  might  be  saved." 

Then,  in  the  next  section  of  this  chapter,  he  de- 
scribes Israel  itself.  He  tells  who  Israel  is,  and 
who  the  Israelites  are,  verses  4  and  5.  We  will 
find  eight  words  here  that  describe  Israel  for  us : 

1.  The  adoption. 

2.  The  glory. 

3.  Covenants. 

4.  Law. 

5.  Service. 

6.  Promises. 

7.  Fathers  (Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob). 

8.  Christ  as  concerning  the  flesh. 

Who  are  the  Israelites,  these  people  that  Paul 
is  talking  about  in  this  dispensational  section  of 
his  Epistle? 

First,  they  are  the  people  of  the  adoption:  It 
means  a  "setting  in  place  of  a  Son,"  literally  it 
means  the  placing  in  the  relation  of  sons.  These 
people  to  whom  Paul  is  writing  are  those  who, 
by  the  Lord  Himself,  have  been  placed  in  the  re- 
lation of  sons.  They  have  been  adopted  as  chil- 
dren of  God. 

Then  they  are  the  people  of  glory.  They  have 
a  great  glory,  and  there  is  no  people  on  earth 
like  them,  so  far  as  the  glory  of  their  history  is 
concerned.  They  are  the  people  of  the  covenants. 
They  are  the  people  of  the  law.     God  gave  the 


Israel's  Rejection  149 

law  to  Israel,  not  to  the  Gentiles.  They  are  the 
people  of  service.  They  are  the  people  of  the 
promise  aside  from  the  covenants;  the  promises 
were  made  to  Israel.  They  are  the  people  of  the 
fathers — Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  these  three 
great  fathers  that  stand  out  in  the  religious  his- 
tory of  the  world.  And,  lastly,  they  are  the  peo- 
ple who  gave  to  the  world  Jesus  Christ  as  the 
Saviour  of  the  world. 

Now,  let  us  take  the  next  section,  verses  6,  7, 
8.  Here  we  have  the  Apostle  describing  to  us 
the  difference  between  true  and  false  Israel, 
and  this  is  a  point  well  worth  consideration. 

First,  note  that  they  are  not  all  Israel  who  are 
called  Israel. 

1.  Not  all  Israel. 

2.  Not  all  children. 

3.  In  Isaac.    The  children  of  promise. 
There  is  Israel  of  the  flesh,  and  Israel  of  the 

Spirit.  They  are  not  all  children  who  are  the 
sons  of  Abraham. 

Some  people  to-day  are  trying  to  make  us  be- 
lieve that  God  is  the  universal  father  of  the  race. 
God  is  not  the  universal  father  of  the  race.  God 
is  the  creator  of  the  race,  but  creatorship  and 
fatherhood  are  very  different.  God  is  only  the 
father  of  that  part  of  the  race  that  have  been 
adopted  into  His  family  by  him.  He  is  not  the 
father  of  the  world  of  mankind.  I  do  not  know 
a  more  damnable  doctrine  than  that  doctrine 
which  is  so  popular  in  some  great  pulpits  of  to- 


150  Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology- 
day  known  as  'The  fatherhood  of  God."  My! 
how  they  do  talk  of  the  fatherhood  of  God  and 
the  brotherhood  of  man.  It  only  shows  the  bibli- 
cal ignorance  of  the  man  who  proclaims  it.  God 
emphatically  declares  here  that  not  even  all 
Israel — born  of  the  seed  of  Abraham — are  chil- 
dren of  God. 

Then  let  us  go  a  step  further.  "Neither  be- 
cause they  are  Abraham's  seed,  are  they  all  chil- 
dren, but  in  Isaac  shall  thy  seed  be  called — it 
is  not  the  children  of  the  flesh  that  are  chil- 
dren of  God,  but  the  children  of  the  promise  are 
reckoned  for  a  seed."  Only  that  part  of  Israel 
which  is  spiritual  belongs  to  the  real  family  of 
God.  There  are  two  separate  and  distinct 
branches  of  Israel.  First,  there  is  the  branch  of 
the  flesh  that  knows  nothing  of  the  Spirit,  and 
then  there  is  the  branch  of  the  Spirit,  and  it  is 
only  that  latter  branch  that  the  Apostle  speaks 
of  when  he  calls  them  children  of  the  promise. 
It  is  only  that  branch  that  obtained  from  Isaac 
the  promise,  the  spiritual  promise,  and  appro- 
priated it,  that  the  Apostle  speaks  of  here  as  be- 
ing children  of  God. 

Now,  let  us  go  a  step  further.  In  the  fourth 
section  of  the  chapter  we  have  Israel's  election. 
Here  we  come  to  the  most  difficult  thing  in  all 
the  Scriptures;  at  least,  the  most  difficult  to  me. 
Long  hours  have  I  wrestled  with  this  old  ques- 
tion! How  I  have  tried  to  reconcile  election  and 
free  agency.     If  I  had  all  the  hours  that  I  have 


Israel's  Rejection  151 

spent  trying  to  reconcile  these  two  great  truths 
there  is  no  telling  what  I  could  do.  I  thank  God 
He  has  given  me  new  light,  and  I  see  them  now 
in  a  different  light.  To  me  now  there  is  no  trou- 
ble at  all  about  the  reconciliation,  and  you  will 
see  before  we  have  gotten  through  with  this  sec- 
tion how  the  light  has  dawned. 


//.  Israel's  Election,    v.  11-26 

1.  The  fact  stated,    v.  11. 

2.  The  argument,     v.  14-26. 

Now,  here  is  a  bold  statement  made  that  God 
has  set  His  seal  upon  these  people  without  any 
reference  to  their  side  of  the  case  whatever. 

Then  we  have  the  argument  given  (v.  14-26). 
Is  it  unrighteousness  in  God  to  thus  elect  one  part 
of  the  race  without  any  regard  to  their  works,  and 
not  elect  another?  That  is  the  question,  and  the 
Apostle  Paul  propounds  that  question,  "What 
shall  we  say,  then  ?  Is  there  unrighteousness  with 
God?  God  forbid.  For  He  saith  to  Moses,  I 
will  have  mercy  on  whom  I  have  mercy,  and  I 
will  have  compassion  on  whom  I  have  compas- 
sion. So,  then,  it  is  not  of  him  that  willeth, 
nor  of  him  that  runneth,  but  of  God  that  hath 
mercy." 

Is  there  any  doubt  about  that  being  elec- 
tion? 

"For  the  Scripture  saith  unto  Pharaoh,  For 
this  very  purpose  did  I  raise  thee  up,  that  I 


152    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

might  shew  in  thee  my  power,  and  that  my  name 
might  be  pubhshed  in  all  the  earth." 

There  is  not  much  doubt  about  election  there. 
'Thou  wilt  say,  then,  unto  me,  why  doth  He  still 
find  fault?  For  who  withstandeth  His  will? 
Nay,  but,  oh,  man,  who  art  thou  that  repliest 
against  God  ?  Shall  the  thing  formed  say  to  him 
that  formed  it.  Why  didst  thou  make  me  thus?" 
Just  as  much  as  to  say,  "You  have  got  to  be, 
whether  you  want  to  be  or  not." 

There  is  no  doubt  about  the  doctrine  of  election 
being  taught  here.  Now,  there  are  three  things 
about  this  doctrine  of  election  that  I  want  to  no- 
tice, and  the  first  is  this,  that  it  is  taught.  There 
is  not  a  man  in  the  world  who  can  read  this 
passage  and  say  that  election  is  not  taught. 

The  next  thing  that  I  want  to  say  is  this.  That 
it  is  distinctly  not  an  election  of  individuals,  but 
of  a  people,  or  a  race,  a  nation,  so  to  speak,  with- 
out any  regard  whatever  to  the  individual.  It  is 
a  national  election.  It  is  an  election  of  the  peo- 
ple. It  is  God  choosing  out  a  people  through 
whom  He  is  going  to  manifest  Himself  to  the 
rest  of  the  world. 

The  third  thing  is  that  it  is  not  an  election  to 
salvation,  but  an  election  to  service;  that  these 
people  elected  are  elected  to  serve.  I  said  a  while 
ago  that  this  was  the  distinct  dispensational  sec- 
tion of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans ;  that  it  related 
altogether  to  the  Jews;  that  we  are  concerned 
about  it  only  as  we  are  concerned  about  any  gen- 


Israel's  Rejection  153 

eral  dispensational  teaching;  that  it  is  so  much 
for  us  as  we  can  gather  and  appropriate;  that  it 
is  a  distinct  section  of  the  Word  of  God  in  which 
God  speaks  distinctly  of  His  relation  to  a  distinct 
people.  God  therefore  elected  this  people  as  a 
people,  as  a  nation,  to  perform  a  certain  part 
after  the  fall  of  man,  looking  to  the  redemption 
of  the  race.  God  elected  this  people  as  the  peo- 
ple through  whom  and  by  whom  to  bless  the 
world.  This  election  is  entirely  Jewish  and  not 
Gentile.  It  does  not  relate  to  Gentile  relationship 
to  God  at  all,  and  we  study  it  only  that  we  may 
see  this  part  of  the  great  scheme  and  plan  and 
purpose  of  God  that  lies  back  of  all  the  teaching 
to  the  accomplishment  of  His  glory. 

Now,  let  us  take  the  fifth  section  of  the  ninth 
chapter — the  reason  for  Israel's  rejection,  for 
Israel  is  rejected,  and  has  been  rejected.  Let  us 
see  the  reasons  for  it. 

///.  Israel's  Rejection,    v.  27-33 

1.  The  fact  stated,     v.  27-29. 

2.  The  reason  given,     v.  30-33. 

We  have  just  seen  that  Israel  is  God's  chosen 
people,  elected  by  Him  to  this  distinct  work  that 
He  is  to  accomplish  through  them.  Now  we 
come  to  their  rejection,  v.  27-29.  Israel  has  dis- 
appointed God,  and  by  reason  of  their  dis- 
appointment of  God,  God  has  set  them  aside,  and 
has  called  them,  as  we  see  in  v.  25-26,  "a  people 
not  His  people,  a  beloved  not  His  beloved." 


154    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

God  then  called  the  Gentile  people,  my  people 
and  your  people,  that  through  them  He  might 
accomplish  the  thing  that  He  originally  started 
out  to  accomplish  through  His  own  chosen  people. 
So  you  see  that  the  Gentiles  were  chosen  also. 
We,  as  a  people,  as  a  race,  are  now  the  elect  of 
God  in  the  place  of  the  Jew,  who  rejected  Him. 
God  had  to  set  the  Jew  aside  and  reach  out  for 
another  people  that  He  might  make  this  other 
people  His  elect  people,  and  begin  the  present 
dispensation.  We  are  the  elect  of  God,  and  the 
Jew  is  set  aside.  Why  is  the  Jew  set  aside? 
''That  the  Gentile,  who  followed  not  after  right- 
eousness, attained  unto  righteousness,  even  the 
righteousness  which  is  of  faith;  but  Israel,  fol- 
lowing after  a  law  of  righteousness,  did  not  ar- 
rive at  that  law.  Wherefore?  Because  they 
sought  it  not  by  faith,  but  as  it  were,  by  works. 
They  stumbled  at  the  stone  of  stumbling ;  even  as 
it  is  written,  Behold,  I  lay  in  Zion  a  stone  of 
stumbling  and  a  rock  of  offense;  and  he 
that  believeth  on  Him  shall  not  be  put  to 
shame." 

Israel  left  out  of  its  program  of  hfe  and  serv- 
ice the  one  important  link  of  faith;  though  the 
Jew  was  the  elect  of  God,  he  v/as  to  maintain 
his  place  of  election,  through  and  by  the  exer- 
cise of  faith.  Even  Abraham,  the  father  of  the 
faithful,  lived  by  faith,  and  so  the  Jew,  the  elect 
of  God,  had  to  maintain  his  election  by  the  ex- 
ercise of  faith,  and  live  by  faith,  but  there  came 


Israel's  Rejection  155 

a  time  in  his  history  when  he  failed  to  do  that. 
He  left  out,  as  I  said,  entirely  from  his  pro- 
gram of  life  and  service  the  link  of  faith,  and 
the  result  of  this  was  that  he  was  dropped  from 
the  plan  of  God. 

Then  the  Gentile  took  it  up  exactly  where  the 
Jew  laid  it  down.  The  Gentile  took  up  the  link 
of  faith  which  coupled  him  on  to  God,  and  was 
made  part  of  the  great  plan  and  scheme  of  God 
for  the  redemption  of  the  world. 

Jesus  Christ  in  the  meantime  had  come,  the 
long-looked-for  Messiah,  and  when  He  came  He 
became  "the  stone  of  stumbling  and  the  rock  of 
offense."  The  Jews  refused  to  accept  Him.  They 
threw  down  all  they  knew  about  the  teaching  of 
the  prophets.  They  were  not  mistaken  about  it, 
because  it  is  too  clear.  They  are  not  mistaken 
about  it  to-day,  unless  they  just  will  shut  their 
eyes.  It  is  their  self-conceit  that  will  not  allow 
them  to  embrace  it. 

They  laid  down  their  faith ;  faith  in  the  teach- 
ings ;  faith  in  God  the  teacher,  and  Christ  the 
sent  one.  The  Gentiles  appropriated  by  faith  the 
Christ,  and  by  their  appropriation  of  Christ  by 
faith  they  became  for  this  dispensation  the  elect 
of  God.  That  is  election.  It  is  not  an  individual 
thing  we  are  talking  about,  for  Paul  clearly 
teaches  us  that  there  are  those  that  are  not  of  the 
elect.  He  clearly  teaches  us  that  even  after  the 
rejection  of  the  Jews  there  are  some  of  them 
that  are  yet  saved,  but  they  are  saved  as   in- 


156    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

dividuals.  The  race  of  Jews  is  set  aside  just  as 
they  were  once  elected,  and  in  the  setting  of  the 
race  aside,  he  is  only  dealing  with  the  racial  side 
of  the  question.  Each  individual  stands  out,  each 
for  himself  to  appropriate  the  teachings  of  the 
Word  of  God. 


XVI 

ISRAEL'S  HOPE 
Ch.  10 

I.  Paul's  Prayer  for  Their  Salvation. 

II.  The  Conditions  Stated. 

III.  The  Argument  for  Missions. 

"My  heart's  desire  and  my  supplication  to  God 
is  for  them,  that  they  may  be  saved."  I  should 
think  there  was  a  great  deal  of  hope  for  my  salva- 
tion if  I  knew  that  the  Apostle  was  praying  for 
it,  and  so  there  is  a  hope  for  Israel  because  Paul 
prayed  for  it. 

In  verse  nine  he  states  the  conditions,  and  the 
only  conditions,  for  Israel's  salvation.  "Because, 
if  thou  shalt  confess  with  thy  mouth  Jesus  as 
Lord,  and  shalt  believe  in  thy  heart  that  God 
raised  him  from  the  dead,  thou  shalt  be  saved.'* 

He  is  here  talking  to  the  Jews,  to  those  peo- 
ple who  had  rejected  Jesus ;  who  had  fallen  over 
the  stone  of  stumbling,  and  had  had  God's  back 
turned  on  them.  Though  they  had  done  all  this, 
yet  there  was  hope  for  them,  but  that  hope  is 
in  their  accepting  Jesus  as  Lord — ^the  same  Jesus 
whom  they  had  rejected  and  stumbled  over. 
157 


158  Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology- 
Confess  Him,  how?  With  the  mouth.  They 
denied  Him  with  the  mouth.  Now  they  have 
got  to  confess  Him  with  the  mouth.  Confess 
Him  as  Lord,  and  what  does  that  mean?  It 
means  Master,  Sovereign  Ruler,  absolute  Mon- 
ach.  It  means  that  they  accept  His  government, 
the  command  of  His  voice,  the  teaching  that  He 
gives ;  that  He  is  to  be  Lord  and  Master  of  their 
lives.  That  is  what  it  means.  There  is  no  hope 
for  the  Jew  unless  he  does  that.  They  may  talk 
about  the  Father;  they  may  name  their  children 
Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  but  the  Jew  must 
confess  Jesus  as  Lord.  Not  only  as  Christ,  not 
only  as  Messiah,  but  as  Lord,  as  Master.  That  is 
the  only  hope  for  Israel. 

But  not  only  that.  They  have  got  to  go  a  step 
further.  They  have  got  to  believe  in  their  hearts 
that  God  raised  Him  from  the  dead. 

1.  Confess  Him  as  Lord. 

2.  Believe  in  their  hearts  that  God  hath  raised 
Him   from  the  dead. 

That  last  is  the  one  thing  that  they  are  not 
willing  to  do  as  a  people.  There  are  individuals 
that  are  saved,  but  as  a  people,  they  are  going 
with  their  eyes  shut,  stumbling  and  falling,  pre- 
tending to  be  looking  for  the  Messiah,  groping 
in  the  dark,  waiting  for  that  spectacular  Messiah 
that  they  claim  is  to  come  until,  after  a  while, 
there  will  be  a  shout  in  the  heavens,  and  the 
trumpet  of  God  will  sound,  the  graves  will  burst 
open,  and  the  righteous  dead  will  rise  and  the  liv- 


Israel's  Hope  159 

ing  be  changed,  then  the  period  of  great  tribu- 
lation, then,  after  all  this  is  over,  Jesus  Christ, 
in  all  of  His  glory  as  King  Emmanuel,  will  come 
from  heaven,  and  then  the  Jews  will  say,  "Ah, 
Messiah  has  come  now !"  and  they  will  fall  down 
and  worship  Him.  They  will  then  be  accepted  as 
a  nation,  and  then  it  shall  be  that  ''A  nation  shall 
be  born  in  a  day."  The  nation  of  Jews,  as  a 
people,  shall  be  born  again.  Up  to  that  time 
they  will  be  saved  as  individuals.  Then  we  will 
see  that  this  saved  nation,  this  nation  that  has 
been  set  aside,  will  be  the  great  exponents  of 
the  salvation  of  the  cross  throughout  the  world. 

Now  then,  take  the  last  thing — ^the  closing  part 
of  this  tenth  chapter  is  the  argument  for  missions. 
There  are  five  words: 

1.  Send. 

2.  Preach. 

3.  Hear. 

4.  Believe. 

5.  Save. 

I  know  there  are  some  people  who  say  that  we 
have  no  business  sending  missionaries  to  the  Jews. 
We  know  that  they  are  good  people  as  citizens. 
We  believe  in  them,  associate  with  them,  are 
kind  to  them,  but  when  it  comes  to  recognizing 
them  as  saved  people  we  cannot  do  it.  Need 
we  hope  that  the  nation  will  be  converted?  Do 
not  be  mistaken  about  that,  for  the  nation  will 
not  be  converted  in  this  dispensation.  No  more 
will  the  nation  be  converted  in  this  dispensation 


i6o    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

than  will  the  world  in  this  dispensation  be  con- 
verted. Any  man  who  starts  out  sending  mis- 
sionaries with  the  thought  that  if  we  flood  the 
world  with  missionaries  we  will  convert  the  world 
does  not  know  his  Bible.  This  world  will  never 
be  converted  until  Jesus  comes.  This  world  is 
getting  further  and  further  from  conversion.  We 
are  not  converting  the  world.  We  are  not  ex- 
pected to  convert  the  world.  We  are  expected 
to  bear  testimony  for  Christ  in  all  nations  and 
among  all  people.  When  the  Son  of  God  returns 
to  this  earth,  clothed  with  the  authority  of  all 
heaven,  then,  and  not  until  then,  will  this  world 
bow  its  knee  to  Christ. 

We  are  to  send  missionaries  to  the  Jews  with 
the  hope  of  bearing  testimony  to  them  so  that 
they  will  be  without  excuse,  and  we  hope  that  we 
will  gather  out  from  among  them  a  people  for 
His  name  "when  He  comes." 


XVII 

ISRAEL'S  RESTORATION 
Ch.  II 

In  the  first  twelve  verses  of  the  eleventh  chap- 
ter the  Apostle  is  reviewing  the  teaching  concern- 
ing the  rejection.  In  the  first  place,  we  have 
Israel's  condition  in  the  rejection  as  it  is  found 
in  the  first  six  verses  of  the  chapter.  Here  are 
two  things  that  stand  out  very  clearly.  First, 
that  not  all  of  Israel  is  rejected.  We  must  un- 
derstand that  the  Apostle  was  dealing  with  the 
nation  and  not  the  individual  in  the  nation. 

Paul  is  dealing  with  the  great  nation  of  Israel 
and  the  nation  was  rejected,  but  not  the  indi- 
vidual, for  there  are  many  among  Israel  that  are 
saved.  The  Apostle  is  referred  to  by  himself 
as  an  illustration  of  that  fact. 

God  always  deals  with  nations  in  the  same  way 
that  He  deals  with  individuals.  He  is  dealing 
with  the  nations  of  the  earth  to-day  just  as  surely 
and  clearly  as  He  dealt  with  Israel.  Nations  do 
not  realize  that  fact,  but  it  would  be  well  for 
them  to  realize  it  and  to  look  into  His  face  and 
tremble  because  the  judgment  of  God  is  to-day 
being  visited  on  the  nations  of  the  earth  as  clearly 
i6i 


1 62    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

as  it  was  visited  upon  Israel.  I  wish  our  own 
nation  would  realize  that  fact.  There  would  be 
a  change  in  the  nation's  affairs.  If  we  would 
realize  that  God  deals  with  the  State  in  the  same 
way  that  He  does  with  the  individual,  there 
would  assuredly  be  a  change.  God  is  going  to 
visit  His  judgment  upon  the  community  that  does 
not  keep  His  law.  Just  how  long  He  is  going  to 
wait  and  beg,  and  plead  with  the  people,  He 
alone  knows,  but  history  bears  me  out  in  stating 
that  that  day  of  retribution  is  certainly  coming, 
and  why  it  is  that  men  cannot  see  it,  I  do  not 
know. 

Then  you  will  find  that  there  is  another  thing 
taught  in  this  section ;  and  that  is  that  this  rem- 
nant which  was  not  rejected  was  prevented  from 
being  rejected  by  the  election  of  grace.  That  is 
to  say,  they  were  saved  and  are  saved  to-day, 
that  remnant  of  Israel  that  is  not  thrown  aside, 
by  the  election  of  grace  just  as  we  are  saved  by 
the  election  of  grace.  Paul  was  a  Jew,  a  Hebrew 
of  the  Hebrews,  saved  as  I  was  saved,  as  you 
were  saved,  through  and  by  the  merits  of  Jesus 
Christ  in  His  atoning  work  on  the  cross;  the 
only  way  to  be  saved.  That  is  what  is  meant 
here  by  the  "election  of  grace." 

Therefore  we  have  the  right  to  hold  up  to  the 
Jew  the  hope  of  salvation,  the  hope  of  not  being 
cast  aside,  of  coming  out  of  his  state  of  bondage, 
but  only  as  we  hold  up  to  the  rest  of  the  world 
the  hope  of  salvation,  through  Jesus  Christ. 


Israel's  Restoration  163 

Some  of  our  Jewish  friends  think  that  we  are 
narrow  because,  though  they  make  splendid  citi- 
zens and  do  good  service  and  are  kind  and  con- 
siderate of  the  poor  and  the  orphans  and  the  out- 
cast, we  insist  that  without  Christ  they  are  lost. 
Some  of  our  Christian  friends,  some  ministers,  as 
far  as  that  is  concerned,  do  not  think  that  we 
have  any  right  to  make  that  statement.  They  say 
that  it  is  narrow  and  unkind.  My  only  answer 
is  this :  if  we  ought  not  to  do  that,  we  ought  to 
throw  our  Bibles  aside  and  quit  business.  There 
is  no  use  in  wasting  money  in  building  churches 
that  stand  for  Jesus  Christ,  that  preach  the  New 
Testament,  that  accept  its  teachings,  unless  it  is  a 
fact  that  the  world,  without  all  this,  is  lost,  abso- 
lutely lost,  forever  lost. 

One  of  two  things  is  true :  Either  the  Jews  are 
right  and  we  ought  to  be  Jews  and  deny  the  New 
Testament;  or  else  we  are  right,  vyholly  right, 
in  asserting  that  without  Christ  the  Jew,  as  every 
other  man  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  is  lost.  If 
that  is  narrow  it  is  because  the  New  Testament 
is  narrow. 

Let  us  understand,  then,  that  the  Jew  that  has 
been  saved,  was  saved  according  to  the  teaching 
of  the  Gospel  by  the  "election  of  grace,"  and  not 
by  works,  as  we  are  told  further  on.  Take  the 
fifth  and  sixth  verses,  ''Even  so,  then,  at  this 
time,  there  is  a  remnant  according  to  the  election 
of  grace.  But  if  it  is  by  grace,  it  is  no  more 
of  works;  otherwise  grace  is  no  more  grace." 


164    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

How  could  a  thing  be  plainer  than  that?  If  a 
man  is  saved  by  works,  as  the  Jewish  system 
holds  that  he  is,  then  there  is  no  such  thing  as 
grace.  Paul  is  making  the  same  argument  that 
I  used  a  while  ago.  I  borrowed  mine  from  him. 
Paul  is  making  the  argument  that  if  salvation  to 
this  remnant  is  according  to  works,  then  all  this 
preaching  of  grace  is  vain,  for  there  is  no  need 
of  it,  and  if  they  are  saved  by  grace,  all  this  talk 
of  salvation  by  works  is  vain.  Salvation  by 
w^orks  is  of  the  Jew,  and  for  that  they  were 
condemned  and  set  aside,  and  the  new  system 
came  in,  the  system  of  faith  in  Christ. 

Now,  I  wish  again  to  fix  it  in  your  minds  that, 
if  you  are  going  to  be  a  New  Testament  Christian, 
you  have  got  to  eliminate  everything  like  a  hope 
of  salvation  through  any  kind  of  works  whatever. 
The  man  who  says,  "I  hope  to  be  saved  because 
I  do  this,  and  that,"  is  no  Christian.  The  Jewish 
system  of  religion  was  tried  and  failed,  and  the 
new  system  of  religion  under  Jesus  Christ  is  es- 
tablished upon  faith  in  Him. 

When  I  first  began  my  ministry  there  was  put 
into  my  hands  a  volume  of  Henry  Ward 
Beecher's  sermons.  I  was  very  fond  of  him. 
He  always  impressed  me  as  the  most  wonderfully 
gifted  man  in  illustrating  in  the  world.  All  of 
his  sermons  abounded  in  beautiful  similes  and 
stories  gathered  from  his  knowledge  of  the  litera- 
ture of  the  world.  This  volume  of  sermons  was 
enriched  by  some  of  his  most  striking  illustra- 


Israel's  Restoration  165 

tions.  I  remember  the  very  first  sermon  in  that 
volume  was  on  Regeneration. 

In  one  of  his  illustrations  he  was  trying  to 
show  the  fall  of  man  and  his  redemption.  He 
says :  "Imagine  a  beautiful  picture  hanging  upon 
the  wall.  It  is  in  a  beautiful  frame,  absolutely 
without  a  flaw,  and  the  whole  thing  is  perfect. 
Now,  that  picture  on  the  wall  illustrates  man 
in  his  original  perfect  state  in  the  Garden  of 
Eden,  perfect  in  every  detail,  so  far  as  we  can 
judge.  After  a  time  dust  accumulates  upon  that 
picture.  After  a  while  the  dust  gets  so  thick  that 
you  cannot  see  much  of  the  original  painting.  It 
is  not  what  you  first  saw.  You  cannot  make  it 
out. 

"The  condition  of  that  picture  illustrates  Adam 
after  sin  entered  and  destroyed  the  original  per- 
fect man.     The  framework  is  still  all  right. 

"Now,"  he  says,  "Regeneration  is  this.  The 
housekeeper  comes  along  and  takes  the  picture 
down  and  rubs  all  the  dirt  off  the  painting  and 
then  polishes  up  the  frame  and  hangs  it  on  the 
wall  again,  and  there  is  the  picture  just  as  pretty 
as  it  ever  was.  Now,"  says  Mr.  Beecher,  "that 
is  regeneration." 

Well,  I  thought  I  had  something  good.  Oh, 
it  was  a  fine  thing,  and  like  most  youngsters 
in  the  pulpit,  I  did  not  stop  to  see  how  my  illus- 
tration would  suit  the  truth.  I  got  up  and 
preached  on  regeneration  and  used  that  illustra- 
tion. 


1 66    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

As  I  went  out  of  doors  one  of  our  Sunday- 
school  teachers  got  me  by  the  arm  and  said,  "I 
tell  you,  that  is  the  finest  illustration  of  regenera- 
tion that  I  ever  heard  in  my  life.  I  never  heard 
it  made  so  plain  before." 

But  there  was  one  old  deacon  in  that  church 
that  I  just  dreaded.  He  had  great  heavy  eye- 
brows hanging  down  over  his  eyes,  and  he  looked 
at  me  as  though  he  thought  I  did  not  know  much. 
That  afternoon  he  came  to  my  house  and  said, 
"You  have  not  been  preaching  long,  and  have  not 
gone  down  into  things  very  far.  You  can  tell 
a  good  story,  but  that  one  you  used  to  illustrate 
regeneration  is  about  as  false  as  anything  I  ever 
heard,  and  you  will  see  it  some  day." 

I  said,  "How  is  that?  Why,  Brother  'So  and 
So'  met  me  at  the  door  and  said  it  was  the  most 
helpful  thing  that  he  ever  heard." 

"He  knows  Greek  and  Latin,"  said  he,  "but 
he  does  not  know  anything  about  his  Bible.  He 
knows  less  about  it  than  you  do." 

Finally  he  said,  "I  have  studied  it,  and  if  you 
will  excuse  me,  I  will  show  you  the  fallacy  of 
your  teaching.  In  the  first  place,  it  was  all  right 
to  represent  fallen  Adam  in  the  Garden  of  Eden ; 
it  is  in  the  next  place  that  it  is  wrong.  I  want 
to  tell  you  that  regeneration  is  not  the  mere  wash- 
ing up  of  the  old  Adam." 

"Well,  what  is  it?" 

"Regeneration  is  that  housekeeper  coming  in 
and  taking  that  picture  down  and  cutting  the  can- 


Israel's  Restoration  167 

vas  all  out,  leaving  nothing  but  the  frame,  the 
mere  external  man,  and  then  she  unrolls  a  picture 
and  puts  it  in  the  place  of  the  old  canvas,  and 
then  hangs  it  on  the  wall  again.  It  is  the  same 
frame,  but  it  is  not  the  washed  over  Adam.  It  is 
the  brand-new  picture  of  Jesus  Christ." 

Well,  I  hated  to  acknowledge  that  I  was  wrong, 
but  any  man  could  see  that  if  the  New  Testament 
is  at  all  true,  that  man  was  right.  I  saw  it  just 
as  quick  as  a  flash,  but  I  hated  to  acknowledge 
defeat,  and  began  to  offer  objections.  He  began 
to  quote  Scripture.  Finally  I  said,  "You  need 
not  quote  any  more  Scripture.  I  know  you  are 
right."  And  the  next  Sunday  morning  I  got  up 
and  told  the  whole  story  right  out.  I  told  them 
wherein  I  had  been  straightened  out,  and  how  it 
came.  That  was  the  best  lesson  that  I  ever 
learned,  and  I  have  never  forgotten  it,  and  never 
will  forget  it.  And  don't  you  forget  it.  If  you  do 
not  learn  anything  else,  I  want  you  to  remember 
that  whether  he  is  a  Jew  or  Gentile,  if  he  is 
saved,  he  is  saved  through  Jesus  Christ,  and  not 
through  works;  but  this  is  no  apology  for  bad 
works,  no  excuse  for  sin.  Salvation,  if  it  is 
inwrought,  lives  in  a  man's  life,  and  works  come 
as  the  result  of  the  new  principle,  the  new  ideal, 
the  new  model  that  has  been  accepted. 

Take  the  next  section.  The  result  of  Israel's 
rejection  (v.  11,  12).  There  are  three  things 
taught  in  that  section.  First,  that  by  the  re- 
jection of  the  Jews  salvation  came  to  the  Gen- 


1 68    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

tiles.  Now,  for  what  purpose?  First,  that  they 
themselves  might  be  saved,  and  then  that  through 
them,  the  Gentiles,  this  despised  people  that  the 
Jews  had  hated,  might  come  a  stirring  up  of  the 
Jewish  people  themselves,  by  the  fact  that  they 
got  hold  of  salvation.  That  is  what  that  word 
"jealousy"  means  here.  It  is  not  the  kind  of 
jealousy  that  we  have  in  our  churches.  God  is 
not  the  author  of  that  kind,  and  He  will  cer- 
tainly never  save  anybody  by  that  kind.  It 
means  the  stirring  up  of  the  Jews  that  He  is 
talking  about,  and  that  is  one  of  the  results  of 
the  rejection  of  the  Jew.  When  the  Jew  was 
rejected  because  he  would  not  accept  Christ,  then 
the  Gentile  was  given  a  chance,  and  he  grasped 
it,  and  the  object  is  to  stir  up  the  Jews,  not  with 
fury  and  wrath  and  mean  jealousy,  but  to  stir 
them  up  through  these  people  who  had  been 
ground  down  by  the  people  of  God. 

Now,  then,  another  truth — the  enrichment  of 
the  world.  "Now,  if  their  fall  is  the  riches  of 
the  world,  and  their  loss  the  riches  of  the  Gen- 
tiles, how  much  more  their  fullness."  Stop  a 
moment  to  think  with  me  how  much  the  world 
has  been  enriched  by  the  fact  that  the  Gentiles 
were  given  a  day,  and  they  accepted  it. 

Will  you  stop  with  me  to  think  for  a  moment 
of  the  history  of  the  nations  of  the  earth  to-day 
with  respect  to  Jesus  Christ?  Let  us  see  the 
contrast  between  the  nations  that  have  not  Christ 
and  the  nations  that  have,  and  you  will  see  some- 


Israers  Restoration  169 

thing  of  the  enrichment  of  the  world  through  the 
Gentiles'  acceptance  of  Christ. 

Oh,  how  God  has  blessed  the  nations  of  the 
earth  through  the  Gentiles !  Certainly  the  Apos- 
tle Paul  could  well  afford  to  speak  of  what  a 
blessing  the  Gentiles  in  their  acceptance  of  Christ 
were  to  the  world,  for  even  at  that  time,  the 
Gentiles  were  leading  in  efforts  to  uplift,  pro- 
mote, and  save  the  race  of  mankind. 

Now,  let  us  take  the  next  section,  the  restora- 
tion, verses  25-27.  In  the  twenty-fifth  verse  we 
have  the  statement  of  the  restoration.  In  these 
two  verses  is  a  prophecy,  and  the  Apostle  is  giv- 
ing emphasis  to  it;  that  there  is  coming  a  time 
that  this  rejected  nation  (we  are  not  speaking 
of  individuals)  shall  be  saved;  when  they  shall 
accept  the  Messiah,  fall  prostrate  before  Him  and 
acknowledge  him  as  Lord,  and  the  nation  Israel 
shall  be  saved.    It  is  coming  to  pass. 

In  the  first  place,  you  will  see  in  this  20th  verse 
that  it  is  to  come  through  the  Deliverer.  If 
you  will  take  in  connection  with  it  Isaiah  59:20, 
you  will  see  the  prophecy  of  it.  Jesus  Christ 
is  to  come  out  of  Zion  as  the  Deliverer  of  His 
people,  and  when  He  comes  they  are  going  to 
fall  down  and  worship  Him  and  be  saved  as  a  na- 
tion, and  then  it  will  come  to  pass  that  "a  nation 
shall  be  born  in  a  day."  Men  talk  sometimes 
as  if  that  prophecy  is  to  be  fulfilled  now.  It  is 
not  so.  It  never  has  been,  and  never  will  be 
until  Jesus  comes  again  the  second  time. 


170    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

Now,  the  purpose  of  this  deHvery,  in  verse  26 : 
God  never  forgets  His  covenant.  He  has  never 
made  a  promise  that  He  is  not  going  to  fulfill. 
The  only  trouble  about  fulfilling  God's  promises 
is,  first,  our  failure  to  believe  and  act  upon  them; 
and,  second,  to  wait  until  God's  time  for  the 
promise  to  be  fulfilled. 

Now,  God  has  made  a  covenant  with  His  peo- 
ple Israel,  and  God  is  going  to  fulfill  that  promise, 
and  the  whole  Jewish  nation  is  going  to  be  saved. 
Not  every  man,  but  the  nation  is  going  to  be 
saved ;  the  great  nation  Israel,  scattered  through- 
out the  earth,  shall  be  gathered  together  in  Pales- 
tine. I  do  not  know  just  to  what  extent  this 
Zionist  movement  will  prove  to  be  the  fulfillment 
of  prophecy,  but  whether  the  whole  Jewish  peo- 
ple shall  be  assembled  in  Palestine,  or  whether 
they  shall  be  scattered  throughout  the  ends  of  the 
earth,  I  don't  know,  but  the  nation  of  Israel, 
which  is  so  remarkably  kept  intact,  shall  fall  down 
before  Him  and  be  saved  as  a  nation.  Their 
sins  are  going  to  be  blotted  out,  and  they  are 
going  to  be  accepted  upon  the  same  conditions 
that  we  are  accepted  to-day. 

Let  us  for  a  moment  take  the  Divine  pro- 
gram as  it  relates  to  Israel  and  the  Gentile  world. 
There  are  three  things  in  the  Divine  program  so 
far  as  the  Jews  are  concerned.  First,  Israel  for 
a  time  is  set  aside;  second,  the  Gentiles  at  this 
period  are  called  in;  and,  third,  the  final  restora- 
tion  of    Israel.     These   three   things   make   up 


Israel's  Restoration  171 

the  Divine  program  and  are  going  to  take 
place. 

Israel  has  been  set  aside,  and  the  Gentiles  have 
been  called  in  during  this  period.  Now,  the  Gen- 
tile dispensation  was  not  a  part  of  the  original 
program  of  God.  Of  course,  it  was  in  the  mind 
of  God  in  the  beginning,  but  so  far  as  the  pro- 
gram for  the  redemption  of  the  race  and  the  sal- 
vation of  the  race  is  concerned,  it  was  not  a  part 
of  the  Divine  program.  It  is  a  parenthesis  in 
the  program  of  God.  The  program  of  God  was 
that  Israel  should  accept  Jesus  Christ  and  go 
straight  ahead  until  the  final  culmination.  So  far 
as  we  are  able  to  read  the  Scriptures  that  seems 
to  be  the  Divine  order,  but  the  Jews  rejected 
God.  They  turned  their  backs  upon  Christ.  God 
foresaw  this  and  made  provision  for  it.  The 
prophets  described  it,  and  God  provides  this 
parenthesis  in  His  program. 

The  Jews  rejected  Christ,  and  because  of  that 
rejection  they  are  set  aside.  God  told  them  that 
they  would  be  set  aside.  It  was  no  unfair  judg- 
ment that  God  took  at  all.  He  simply  set  them 
aside,  and  then  threw  in  this  parenthesis,  the 
Church  dispensation,  and  in  this  we  are  now  liv- 
ing and  serving. 

Now,  the  Jews  as  a  nation  are  not  being 
touched,  but  Christ  is  being  enthroned,  and  His 
civilization  is  spreading,  until  finally  the  day  of 
restoration  is  coming.  Christ  is  coming  again, 
coming  here  to  reign  personally  and  individually. 


172    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

His  reign  was  prophesied  by  the  prophets;  and 
because  His  reign  was  prophesied  by  the  prophets^ 
and  because  when  He  was  on  the  earth  He  did 
not  reign  in  the  governmental  affairs  of  the  earth, 
many  people  have  argued  that  these  prophecies 
concerning  Him  are  untrue. 

One  day  on  a  train  I  got  to  talking  with  a 
Jewish  Rabbi,  a  very  intelligent  man.  He  said, 
''Do  you  know,  the  objection  that  I  have  to  your 
teaching  is  that  it  is  not  sincere.  As  I  read  the 
Scriptures,  I  read  that  Jesus  Christ  is  to  rule  in 
the  affairs  of  the  earth.  Don't  you?  Well,  you 
know  that  He  did  not.  He  never  got  anywhere 
near  His  father's  throne,  nor  to  ruling  this  earth. 
Then,  how  do  you  claim  Jesus  to  be  the  Mes- 
siah? I  tell  you  when  the  Messiah  comes  He 
is  to  sit  on  His  father  David's  throne  and  rule  this 
earth,  and  then  you  are  going  to  be  ashamed  that 
you  did  not  wait  until  He  came." 

I  said,  "You  have  got  the  cart  before  the  horse. 
You  do  not  rightly  divide  the  Scriptures.  Jesus 
Christ  is  coming  again,  my  friend,  and  He  is 
prophesied  in  your  Scriptures  to  come  again. 
When  He  does  come  again  He  is  not  coming  in 
a  manger.  That  is  the  reason  you  despised  Him. 
You  say  that  I  am  not  sincere.  I  say  that  you 
are  not  sincere,  because  the  Scriptures  tell  you 
that  He  is  to  be  born  in  a  manger,  and  to  be 
born  of  a  Virgin.  You  expected  Him  to  come 
with  a  blast  of  trumpets  as  a  king." 

Well,  he  had  never  seen  that.    I  said  further, 


Israel's  Restoration  173 

"When  He  comes  again  He  is  coming  as  you 
are  expecting  Him  to  come,  as  a  king,  and  He 
is  going  to  sit  on  His  Father's  throne,  and  then 
you  are  going  to  say  that  'Messiah  has  really 
come  at  last.'  He  is  going  to  say  to  you,  'I  am  the 
Jesus  of  the  manger.  I  am  the  Jesus  of  prophecy. 
I  am  the  one  crucified,  and  I  am  come  back  and 
am  going  to  sit  on  my  Father's  throne  and  rule 
this  nation  according  to  the  program  of  heaven.' 
Then  you  are  going  to  say,  'Oh,  I  wish  I  had  ac- 
cepted Him  before  this,  but  since  I  did  not  I  will 
accept  Him  now !'  Then  the  Jews  are  going  to 
be  restored,  and  then  the  great  world-wide  evan- 
gelistic sweep  will  begin." 


XVIII 

THE  PRACTICAL  APPLICATION 

Chs.  12-16 

We  are  going  to  try  to  close  the  Book  of 
Romans,  and  it  is  an  immense  task  that  we  have, 
for  we  have  five  chapters  to  compass.  We  find 
that  they  are  all  related  to  the  practical  side  of 
Paul's  theology,  and,  therefore,  can  be  easily  con- 
densed. I  shall  try  to  give  practically  nothing 
more  than  an  analysis  of  them. 

/.  Dedication  to  God.     Ch.  12. 

1.  Call  to  dedication,     v.  i. 

2.  What  is  involved,     v.  2-21. 

Now  we  come  to  apply  the  principles  that  he 
has  been  dealing  with  in  the  preceding  sections; 
and  the  first  application  made  is  that  of  dedica- 
tion, in  verse  i,  "I  beseech  you,  therefore,  breth- 
ren, by  the  mercies  of  God,  that  ye  present  your 
bodies  a  living  sacrifice,  holy,  acceptable  unto 
God,  which  is  your  reasonable  service." 

Let  us  not  get  confused  as  to  the  terms  "dedi- 
cation" and  "consecration."  Nowhere  does  God 
call  us  to  consecrate  ourselves,  for  that  is  a  work 
that  man  cannot  do.  Consecration  is  God's  side 
174 


The  Practical  Application      175 

of  the  work  of  dedication.  Dedication  is  man's 
side  of  the  work  of  consecration.  Man  dedicates 
and  God  consecrates,  and  when  you  hear  of  con- 
secration services  being  held,  you  hear  of  some- 
thing being  held  that  is  entirely  extra-scriptural. 
There  is  no  Scripture  whatever  for  holding  a 
consecration  service,  nor  is  there  any  Scripture 
for  our  consecrating  things  to  God.  You  hear 
sometimes  of  the  priest  consecrating  a  building 
or  consecrating  an  individual.  There  is  no  such 
thing  as  man's  consecrating  anything.  Let  me 
say  it  again:  consecration  is  God's  side  of  the 
work  of  dedication,  and  dedication  is  man's  side 
of  the  work  of  consecration.  Man  dedicates  to 
God  and  then  God  puts  His  holy  seal  of  conse- 
cration upon  it,  and  it  is  then  consecrated.  And 
so  the  Apostle  here,  in  this  first  verse  of  this 
twelfth  chapter,  is  calling  for  dedication.  *T  be- 
seech you,  therefore,  brethren,  by  the  mercies  of 
God,  that  you  present  (or  dedicate)  yourselves 
to  God."  This  little  word,  ''therefore,"  is  a  very 
significant  one.  It  is  always  significant  when 
found  in  a  scriptural  connection,  but  it  seems  to 
be  specially  so  here,  and  upon  that  little  word 
hinges  so  much.  'T  beseech  you,  therefore, 
brethren,"  as  much  as  to  say,  because  of  what 
has  preceded,  because  of  what  has  already  been 
said  and  done,  I  beseech  you  to  present  your 
bodies  a  living  sacrifice. 

We  who  have  followed  this  teaching  from  the 
first  to  the  present  need  not  be  reminded  of  some 


176    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

of  the  wonderful  things  that  have  preceded  this 
chapter,  the  wonderful  truths  that  he  has  taught, 
the  wonderful  change  that  has  been  wrought  in 
us  if  we  have  followed  experimentally  the  teach- 
ing of  these  preceding  chapters.  Now,  because 
of  what  has  taken  place  in  the  past,  in  the  teach- 
ing of  the  past,  and  in  our  own  inner  experi- 
ence, the  call  comes  to  dedication  of  our  whole 
bodies,  not  a  part  of  our  bodies,  not  simply  our 
hearts  and  our  affections,  but  our  bodies,  our 
whole  being  with  all  of  its  faculties  and  its  pow- 
ers ;  with  everything  that  we  have,  we  are  called 
on  to  present  ourselves  to  God,  which  is  our  rea- 
sonable service — reasonable  because  of  what  God 
has  done  for  us,  reasonable  because  of  that 
change  that  has  been  wrought  in  us  if  we  have 
experienced  the  teaching  of  the  Apostle  Paul  in 
this  wonderful  book. 

Then  we  have  from  v.  2-21  what  is  involved 
in  this  work  of  dedication.  I  have  epitomized 
this  section  of  this  chapter  for  the  purpose  of 
presenting  in  as  concise  a  form  as  I  can  that 
which  I  find  involved  in  the  life  of  a  dedicated 
man. 

V.  2-21.  Non-conformity  to  this  world, 
humility,  diversity  of  gifts,  sincerity  of  love,  af- 
fection one  to  another ;  brotherly  preferment,  dili- 
gence and  fervency,  rejoicing  in  hope,  patient  in 
tribulation,  continuing  in  prayer,  communicating 
to  the  necessities  of  saints,  given  to  hospitality, 
blessing  for  persecution,  rejoicing  with  them  that 


The  Practical  Application      177 

rejoice,  weeping  with  them  that  weep,  the  same 
mind  one  toward  another,  condescend  to  things 
that  are  lowly,  not  conceited,  render  to  no  man 
evil  for  evil,  take  thought  for  things  honorable, 
as  far  as  possible  live  peaceably  with  all  men,  if 
thine  enemy  hunger  feed  him,  if  he  thirst  give 
him  drink,  be  not  overcome  with  evil,  but  over- 
come evil  with  good. 

These  requirements  are  so  very  plain,  as  I  look 
at  it,  that  I  do  not  think  it  is  necessary  to  take 
time  to  explain  them,  or  attempt  to  apply  them. 
The  life  that  is  wholly  dedicated  to  God  is  a 
life  that  embraces  not  one  of  these,  but  every  one 
of  them,  and  if  that  is  true,  and  it  is,  pray  tell 
me  where  do  you  find  a  wholly  dedicated  life? 
Mr.  Moody  once  said,  "The  world  waits  to  find 
one  wholly  consecrated  man,"  and  I  think  he 
might  have  said,  "God  waits  to  find  a  wholly  dedi- 
cated man."  We  see  great  things  manifested 
through  man  by  God  here  and  there.  We  find 
here  and  there  a  man  upon  whom  God  seems  to 
have  laid  His  hand  and  through  him  He  works 
marvelously,  and  yet  I  do  not  believe  that  there 
has  yet  lived  the  man  who  has  given  God  half 
a  chance  to  show  His  power  and  His  willingness 
to  bless.  As  I  have  gone  over  these  things  em- 
braced in  the  wholly  dedicated  life,  and  then,  as 
I  have  measured  my  own  life  by  them,  I  feel 
ashamed  that  I  personally  have  not  given  God 
more  of  a  chance  in  my  own  Hfe,  and  I  have  come 
to  this  conclusion,  that  the  only  thing  that  God 


I'yS  Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology- 
waits  for  in  the  life  of  any  child  of  His  is  whole 
dedication.  It  is  a  mistake  to  imagine  that  God 
is  pleased  to  do  little  things.  God  is  only  pleased 
when  He  is  allowed  to  do  His  best.  He  could  not 
be  God  and  desire  any  other  than  that.  God's 
greatest  and  best  is  His  normal  desire,  and  if  He 
is  waiting  to  do  His  best  through  our  lives,  we 
should  give  Him  a  chance.  Surely  He  has  been 
good  enough  to  us.  Surely,  as  the  Apostle  puts  it 
in  his  first  verse,  it  is  our  reasonable  service,  for 
every  one  of  us  is  desirous  of  success.  We  could 
not  be  human  and  desire  less  than  success.  Cer- 
tainly we  could  not  be  Christ's  and  desire  less 
than  success  and  the  highest  form  of  success.  I 
would  not  trust  one  who  had  no  more  ambition 
than  to  just  pass  along  through  life  with  failure 
to-day  and  success  to-morrow.  Every  man  who 
is  worthy  of  the  place  that  he  occupies  in  the 
Father's  affection  is  desirous  of  success,  and  the 
highest  success  can  only  be  attained  when  we  give 
God  a  chance  to  do  His  best ;  is  when  we  make  a 
whole-hearted,  whole-bodied  dedication  of  our- 
selves, with  our  affections  and  our  lives  of  serv- 
ice unreservedly  given  to  Him.  Let  Him  take 
them,  and  give  that  back  which  He  wants  us  to 
keep  and  take  away  that  which  He  does  not  want 
us  to  have,  for  He  would  not  take  away  anything 
that  is  for  our  good.  Let  Him  withhold  that 
which  He  does  not  want  us  to  keep,  and  then  let 
that  life  stand  out  in  the  community  as  a  charged 
magnet.     Everyone  that  comes  in  touch  with  it 


The  Practical  Application       179 

feels  that  indescribable  spiritual  magnetism  that 
goes  out  from  a  wholly  spiritually  magnetized  life. 
Oh,  we  can  say  what  we  please,  but  that  is  the 
philosophy  of  the  Christian  life,  and  no  Chris- 
tian life  can  ever  be  lived  so  as  to  please  God 
that  does  not  live  on  that  plan.  We  talk  about 
growing  in  grace,  and  we  urge  upon  men  and 
women  to  grow  in  grace ;  we  try  to  grow  in  grace, 
we  make  a  little  progress  in  one  line,  and  per- 
haps while  we  are  making  progress  in  that  line, 
we  are  failing  in  another.  There  is  no  such 
thing  as  normal  spiritual  growth  that  is  not  based 
upon  whole  dedication.  When  there  is  whole 
dedication  of  our  whole  being,  then  growth  is  the 
normal  thing  in  the  Christian  life,  not  growth 
in  one  particular,  but  growth  in  every  particular. 
When  we  have  taken  this  step  in  dead  earnest, 
then  out  of  our  lives  will  issue  the  things  that 
I  have  just  enumerated,  which  are  found  in  this 
chapter. 

//.  The  Relation  to  Governments 
Ch.  13 

1.  The  obligation,    v.  i. 

2.  The  reason,     v.  1-5. 

3.  The  application,   v.  7. 

This  is  a  very  essential  point.  A  great  many 
people  think,  when  they  get  religion,  that  they 
have  everything  in  this  world  they  need;  that 
they  have  no  relation  to  the  world  after  they 


l8o    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology- 
have  gotten  a  very  good  case  of  religion.     The 
Apostle  Paul  is  directing  a  very  clear-cut  message 
to  such  people. 

First,  the  obligation  in  verse  i,  "Let  every  soul 
be  subject  to  the  higher  powers."  The  Apostle 
here  is  talking  about  governmental  authority, 
about  the  authorities  of  the  civil  government,  and 
he  makes  the  call  by  way  of  an  obligation  that 
every  soul  is  to  be  subject  to  these  high  civil 
authorities.  Why?  Because,  he  says,  there  is 
no  power  but  of  God  and  the  powers  that  be 
are  ordained  of  God.  In  other  words,  God  is  the 
author  of  civil  government  just  as  much  as  He  is 
the  author  of  the  Bible.  He  is  the  author  of  it 
in  an  entirely  different  sense  and  in  a  different 
way,  but  He  is  just  as  much  the  author  of  civil 
authority  as  He  is  of  the  Bible.  Now,  this  does 
not  mean  that  every  man  in  authority  is  a  God- 
fearing man.  Far  from  it.  I  would  that  that 
were  true.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  almost  uni- 
versally the  opposite,  but  so  far  as  the  govern- 
ment is  concerned,  that  is  ordained  of  God,  and 
the  Christian  is  obligated  to  God  to  keep  the  law. 
I  think  that  there  could  be  no  message  spoken  to- 
day that  had  in  it  more  weight,  if  properly  re- 
ceived, and  more  opportunity  for  good,  than  the 
message  of  this  thirteenth  chapter,  and  especially 
is  that  true  right  here  in  our  own  country  to-day. 
A  Christian  man  has  no  more  right  to  disobey 
the  law  of  the  land  than  He  has  to  walk  in  the 
face  of  the  law  of  God  and  disobey  it.    Of  course, 


The  Practical  Application      1 8 1 

there  is  a  distinction  made,  as  you  will  see  as  you 
go  on  further  in  this  chapter,  between  the  civil 
law,  in  so  far  as  it  relates  to  the  matter  of  civil 
government,  and  the  civil  law  as  it  relates  to  the 
question  of  conscience.  When  it  comes  to  the 
question  of  religious  conscience,  then  it  becomes 
quite  another  question.  Nothing  is  to  stand  be- 
tween a  man  and  God.  But  in  so  far  as  gov- 
ernment relates  to  the  governing  of  the  body  in 
civil  things,  we  are  just  as  much  obligated  to  keep 
the  law  of  the  land  as  we  are  the  law  of  God, 
and  the  man  who  takes  the  law  in  his  own  hands 
and  breaks  it,  breaks  the  law  of  God.  Every  Sab- 
bath violator  is  guilty  of  two  violations  of  law, 
and  for  those  two  violations  of  law  he  has  got 
to  stand  before  the  judgment.  First,  he  is  guilty 
of  the  violation  of  God's  law.  Second,  he  is 
guilty  of  the  violation  of  man's  law,  because  the 
statute  law  of  this  country  makes  it  binding  upon 
us  to  keep  the  Sabbath,  and  when  a  man  violates 
the  Sabbath  he  violates  both  God's  law  and  man's 
law.  I  wonder  how  these  men  that  go  down 
to  their  offices  and  work  themselves  and  work 
their  clerks,  and  carry  on  their  regular  routine  of 
business,  will  feel  when  they  stand  before  the 
judgment  bar  of  God?  I  wonder  how  these  Sun- 
day-paper publishers  are  going  to  feel  when  they 
stand  before  the  judgment  bar  of  God?  Never 
mind  about  their  being  run  by  good  Christian 
men;  here  is  the  law.  God  said  it,  and  man 
said  it,  and  God  indorsed  what  man  said  when 


1 82    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

man  made  the  law,  and  so  all  along  the  line  we 
need  to  have  our  consciences  quickened  with  re- 
spect to  the  tremendous  importance  of  keeping 
the  law,  the  law  of  God  and  the  law  of  the  land. 

Anarchy  is  ever  displeasing  to  God,  and  he  is 
an  anarchist  who  goes  in  the  face  of  the  law  of 
the  land  and  does  as  he  pleases.  He  may  not  be 
branded  as  anarchists  are  branded,  but  he  is  an 
anarchist  who  takes  the  law  of  the  land  in  his 
own  hand. 

"Render  to  all  their  dues;  tribute  to  whom 
tribute  is  due;  custom  to  whom  custom;  fear  to 
whom  fear;  honor  to  whom  honor." 

I  wonder  how  many  of  us  shirk  paying  our 
taxes?  Some  people  go  away  from  town  and 
stay  away  to  keep  from  getting  caught.  I  know 
a  prominent  church  member,  worth  thousands  of 
dollars,  who,  several  years  ago,  was  found  to  be 
paying  tax  on  an  old  watch  and  a  pistol.  The 
rest  of  it  was  put  off  on  other  people  to  keep 
from  paying  taxes  on  it.  He  used  to  carry  around 
the  bread  and  wine  and  look  as  saintly  as  an 
angel.  It  never  occurred  to  him  when  he  refused 
to  pay  his  taxes  that  he  was  breaking  God's  law. 
I  have  no  question  in  my  mind  that,  if  he  had 
been  taught  the  Scriptures  clearly  and  plainly,  he 
would  have  seen  differently  and  acted  differently. 
I  know  young  men  who  brag  about  getting  out 
of  paying  their  poll-tax.  Let  every  such  man  or 
woman  understand  that  when  that  is  true,  God's 
law  is  violated  and  it  is  a  si^ 


XIX 
CONCLUDING  WORDS 
/.  Non-Essentials  and  Disputations 
Chs.  14  and  15 

1.  The  obligation.     14:1. 

2.  Against  judgments.     14:1-12. 

3.  The  higher  law.     14:13-23  and  15:1-12. 
"Him  that  is  weak  in  faith  receive  ye,  yet  not 

for  decision  of  scruples"  (v.  i). 

I  wish  that  the  Church  everywhere  could  ap- 
preciate this  teaching.  How  changed  would  be 
our  method  of  procedure  in  all  of  our  Churches ! 
How  different  would  be  our  feeling  toward  the 
weak  brother!  As  it  is  now  the  weak  brother 
is  looked  down  upon  rather  with  a  spirit  of  con- 
tempt. We  do  not  say  so,  but  it  nevertheless 
is  so.  The  weak  brother  when  he  comes  into 
the  Church  is  too  often  made  to  feel  that  he 
ought  to  take  a  back  seat  until  he  passes  through 
a  stage  of  spiritual  evolution  and  social  evolu- 
tion to  the  extent  that  he  can  be  given  the  front 
seat,  and  that  is  especially  so  if  that  weak  brother 
happens  to  be  a  sister.  She  is  certainly  made  to 
feel  that  she  must  get  far  back,  and  stay 
183 


184    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

far  back,  a  long  time;  and  the  world  on 
the  outside  sees  this  and  the  ordinary  man 
of  the  world  knows  that  that  is  not  Christ, 
and  knowing  that  it  is  not  Christ  and  yet  see- 
ing that  it  is  persistently  so  in  the  Church,  the 
world  becomes  disgusted.  It  has  not  the  due 
respect  for  the  Church  that  it  should  have  and 
would  have  if  things  were  operated  on  a  different 
plane.  It  has  not  been  long  since  I  talked  to  a 
man  of  affairs  and  a  man  of  fine  judgment,  a 
man  who  is  fair,  too,  in  his  judgment,  and  he 
was  referring  to  this  very  matter.  He  said  to 
me,  "The  thing  of  all  others  that  is  keeping  me 
out  of  the  Church  [though  he  was  a  professed 
believer]  is  the  inconsistency  of  the  Church  with 
respect  to  weak  and  needy  mankind."  Those 
were  his  words,  and  then  he  illustrated  what  he 
meant.  He  said :  ''My  wife  worked  hard  to  pick 
up  and  save  a  poor  weak  fallen  girl,  and  she  was 
saved,  too,  for  my  wife  said  she  was."  He 
thought  that  everything  his  wife  said  was  regis- 
tered in  heaven.  "And  yet  my  wife's  pastor  told 
her  that  he  did  not  think  it  was  wise  for  her 
to  try  to  join  his  church;  that  there  were  churches 
in  the  city  where  she  could  go  and  feel  at  home ; 
that  there  was  a  great  deal  of  feeling  in  his 
church  against  that  kind  of  thing,  and  while  he 
thoroughly  sympathized  with  the  effort,  yet  it  was 
not  best  for  her  to  come  into  that  church.  Now," 
he  said,  "I  cannot  join  a  church  that  preaches 
one    thing    and  practices    another,   for  if  that 


Concluding  Words  185 

woman  is  saved,  she  is  just  as  good  as  any 
other  woman  in  the  sight  of  God,  or  your  teach- 
ing is  wrong;  and  after  all  who  of  us  has  not 
sinned  ?" 

I  tell  you,  I  do  believe  that  we  would  not  have 
one-half  the  backsliding  in  the  Church  to-day — 
not  one-half — if  we  were  to  put  into  practice  this 
teaching:  if  our  officers  and  our  Sunday-school 
teachers,  our  Christian  men  and  women,  when 
they  see  a  man  or  woman  about  to  stumble,  would 
go  to  them  and  love  them  back  into  safety.  The 
opposite  of  this  is  true.  Let  a  little  bit  of  sus- 
picion get  out  in  the  community  against  a  man, 
or  more  especially  a  woman.  Where  is  a  good 
woman  that  goes  to  her  and  says,  "Here,  let's 
have  a  little  talk  together.  I  am  afraid  you  are 
imprudent,  and  I  want  to  talk  with  you  about  it," 
and  just  demonstrating  her  genuine  sympathy, 
win  her  by  love  back  to  the  place  of  security  ? 
Instead  of  that,  they  who  are  strong  are  certainly 
strong  in  going  around  and  telling  everybody 
about  the  little  indiscreet  things  that  have  been 
done.  The  Apostle  Paul,  inspired  by  the  Spirit 
of  God,  was  endeavoring  to  teach  this  Church  to 
whom  he  had  written  this  letter,  that  that  is  not 
the  way  to  express  the  Christian  life. 

Then  he  goes  on  to  give  some  very  strong 
teaching  with  respect  to  the  matter  of  judgment. 
Here  his  purpose  is  to  condemn  quick,  rapid, 
hasty,  unchristian  judgment  of  one  another,  hold- 
ing up  as  a  sufficient  reason  for  that  that  God 


i86    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

Himself  is  judge,  and  that  we  shall  all  have 
to  stand  at  last,  and  every  man  give  an  ac- 
count for  himself  before  the  judgment  bar  of 
God. 

But  the  higher  law  is  the  thing  that  I  wish 
to  consider,  from  the  23d  verse,  chapter  14,  to 
the  I2th  verse  of  chapter  15.  The  principle  here 
is  a  very  good  one,  and  a  very  necessary  one  and 
it  is  well  for  us  to  understand  it.  There  are  a 
great  many  things  that  we  are  privileged  to  do  in 
our  own  right,  which,  when  we  take  into  consid- 
eration the  rights  of  others,  we  are  not  privileged 
to  do.  A  man  has  a  right  to  eat  meat,  but  is 
there  someone  who  is  grievously  offended  because 
of  meat-eating?  If  by  the  continuance  of  the 
meat-eating  process  one's  influence  is  lost  over 
such  a  one,  that  meat-eating  must  be  given  up, 
not  that  there  is  harm  in  the  meat,  but  there  is 
loss  of  influence  in  the  thing  that  he  is  doing. 
This  is  what  we  call  the  higher  law  of  Christian 
service,  and  it  is  a  law  that  we  ought  always  to 
keep  in  mind.  Paul  said,  "I  have  a  right  to  eat 
meat,  it  does  not  hurt  me,  but  here  is  one  who 
thinks  that  because  this  meat  has  been  offered 
to  idols,  it  is  wrong  to  eat  it.  I  will  give  up  my 
right  to  eat  the  meat  for  the  higher  right  of 
my  brother's  interest.  I  have  the  right  to  eat,  and 
the  right  to  eat  carries  with  it  the  right  not  to 
eat."  If  all  of  us  would  adopt  this  principle, 
there  would  be  no  more  trouble,  there  could  not 
be  any  such  thing  as  trouble  in  the  Church. 


Concluding  Words  187 

//.  The  Final  Salutation  and  Benediction 
Chs.  15  and  16 

There  is  nothing  in  this  of  special  significance. 
I  will  just  give  an  epitomized  statement  of  what 
is  contained  in  these  two  chapters.  Prayer  for 
the  Church,  his  compliment  of  the  Church,  his 
personal  words  to  them,  his  commendation  of  his 
colaborers,  his  final  benediction. 

Now  for  just  a  concluding  word,  the  final 
word  with  ourselves.  First,  we  have  found  in 
the  study  of  this  book  that  we  are  all  in  sin, 
and  all  hell-deserving  and  all  hell-bound.  We 
have  seen  also  that  Jesus  Christ  died  to  save  us 
from  sin.  We  have  seen  further  that  outside  of 
Jesus  Christ  there  is  no  such  thing  as  salvation, 
that  the  work  of  the  law  avails  nothing  to  the 
man  until  he,  by  faith  in  the  death  and  the  resur- 
rection of  Christ,  is  a  saved  man.  That  faith  in 
the  death  and  resurrection  of  Christ  brings  not 
only  salvation  to  one,  but  also  into  his  life  are 
incorporated  the  principles  which  actuated  Jesus 
Christ  in  His  life,  so  that  the  matter  of  keep- 
ing the  law  is  no  more  a  matter  of  force,  but 
the  natural  outcome.  His  concern  is  keeping  in 
perfect  spiritual  harmony  with  Jesus  Christ,  and 
when  he  is  in  perfect  spiritual  harmony  with 
Jesus  Christ,  the  law  keeps  itself,  for  Christ  came 
as  the  fulfillment  of  the  law,  and  in  His  life  was 
incorporated  all  that  the  law  was  intended  to  be, 
so  that  when  we  embrace  Christ,  we  embrace 


1 88    Salvation  and  the  Old  Theology 

Christ  as  the  sum  and  substance  of  all  that  God 
wants  us  to  do  and  be.  The  position  of  the  Chris- 
tian is  not  one  of  legalism.  It  is  one  of  liberty, 
but  only  such  liberty  as  issues  from  a  direct  and 
personal  touch  with  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  just  that 
liberty  that  comes  to  one  when  he  is  mastered  by 
Christ.  Hence  my  injunction  at  the  close  of  this 
study,  which  I  trust  has  been  helpful  at  least  in 
some  degree,  my  one  injunction  is  this :  See  to  it 
that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord  and  Master  of  your  life. 
If  He  is  truly  Lord  and  Master,  the  matter  of  liv- 
ing a  Christian  life  is  not  one  of  strenuous  en- 
deavor, but  one  of  normal  ease,  the  outflowing  of 
the  inwrought  life  of  Christ  through  the  Holy 
Ghost  sent  down  from  God. 


THE  END 


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